Commentary
Java: Bet Your Business on It
Thursday, Mar. 31, 4:00 PM PT
Ten years ago if I had told the CIOs of Fortune 1000 organizations that Java technology would become a lynchpin of their IT application platform strategies, few would have believed it.
Today, four out of five Fortune 1000 companies running or evaluating a major enterprise software package expect it to run on all J2EE-compliant application servers. Java technology is the leading choice for IT organizations developing applications to integrate with legacy systems. A top market research firm estimates that 72 percent of organizations will deploy Java technology by the end of this year.
And over four million enterprise developers believe that Java technology is their future: type Java into a leading online job site and you'll get thousands of hits; typing Java into a search engine generates more than 63 million hits.
In the ten years since Sun Microsystems' Dr. James Gosling created the Java language it has fostered a $120 billion economy, simplifying the most complex, innovative and massively flexible business infrastructures in the world.
At hundreds of companies like US Sprint, NBC, Air Canada, Vodafone, DaimlerChrysler, China Unicom and Verizon, Java technology standards enable CIOs to exploit new business opportunities. From cars to cable set-top boxes, from mobile handsets to mainframes, Java extends the life of IT investments in a secure, reliable network computing environment that is always open for innovation.
Another leading market research analyst group finds that Java technology delivers demonstrable ROI and TCO benefits in multi-vendor and cross-platform environments. Our customers would agree:
The New South Wales Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) used Java technology on one of the largest open standards- and Java technology-based software rollouts in the New South Wales government, and projected that it would increase security, reduce costs by 20 percent and reap around $1.5 million savings annually. The RTA's CIO said this would make it possible to dedicate time and budget to serving customers rather than worrying about desktop costs and support issues.
Nippon Paint, in business for 123 years and one of the pioneers of the Japanese modern paint industry, has adopted the Java Enterprise System for an open standards-based architecture that ensures interoperability and more proactive account management. The company projects the transition to the Java platform will cut their TCO by 50 percent.
In addition to outperforming other technologies in bringing legacy applications into the network, Java technology provides a solid foundation for building massive new infrastructures that enable faster growth and improve customer satisfaction and long-term competitive advantage through constant innovation.
In 2000, the leading online marketplace -- eBay -- decided that it needed a completely new architecture to meet future quality-of-service requirements. After evaluating .NET and the Java platform, eBay chose Java technology to move from a monolithic application architecture to a services- and component-based architecture that would take eBay into the future with a viable, flexible and scalable architecture.
At hundreds of companies worldwide, Java technology is the foundation for building businesses that create competitive differentiation and long-term revenue streams:
Office Depot's strategic direction to transform its business to continue meeting customer needs required an open, standards-based network computing infrastructure. Java technology helped enable this market leader to architect a network computing, standards-based infrastructure into the core of their business, building a competitive edge by producing a satisfying customer experience.
Videotron Ltd., a subsidiary of Quebecor Media Inc., is using Java technology to deploy a next-generation, high speed cable Internet service that allows its nearly half million subscribers to access their accounts from any standard Web browser anytime, anywhere. Java technology is providing Videotron with a highly flexible, scalable and robust foundation for growth.
Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) is a technology leader in the supply of products including smart cards, systems and solutions for telecommunications, electronic payment transactions, and banknotes and securities. Java technology helps G&D deploy faster time-to-market solutions for its clientele worldwide, resulting in additional revenue opportunities.
And Java technology also eliminates the need to disrupt the infrastructure for organizations that want to adopt new technologies:
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts, the largest health insurer in the Commonwealth, is migrating its existing identity management software to Java Enterprise System Network Identity Services and is implementing the Java Enterprise System for more than 3,300 users on more than 100 systems throughout its enterprise. The organization anticipated significant savings over the first 18 months of the project.
Allied Irish Bank, one of Ireland's biggest banking and financial services groups, turned to the Java Desktop System for a secure, reliable and affordable desktop platform. AIB will migrate 7,500 desktop users and transition branch-dependent applications across its entire branch network.
On a final note, if your company isn't already a member, join the Java Community Process. The JCP's nearly 800 corporate members ensure Java technology's standard of stability and cross-platform compatibility. It's another important way we can work together to ensure that we create and deploy technology that builds shareholder value as it drives our businesses forward.
John Loiacono is the Executive Vice President of Software, Sun Microsystems.
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