Complex retail environments demand effective communications among multiple devices at multiple locations. Project JXTA puts them in touch with each other.

The retailing sector increasingly needs to design and build technology that enables roaming between wireless LANs and WANs and permits access to resources anywhere, anytime, from any device. The demand for continuous access to data and computing resources—on-site and off-site, across a range of devices—will dictate how to change business processes to leverage the increased productivity resulting from such access.

This development signals the onset of "mesh networks," which link services, devices, and users in ad hoc, peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. Technology that's evolving from Project JXTA technology's P2P capabilities is at the forefront of this movement.

Numerous legacy mainframe, client-server, and desktop systems are not open and thus cannot provide the freedom that retailers need in building end-to-end solutions that meet their needs in their competitive environment. Project JXTA technology, with its ability to provide communication among multiple legacy and current devices in dispersed locations, is therefore seen as a great enabler for retailers.

Project JXTA Technology Implemented Widely

Project JXTA protocols have been implemented for computing environments including the Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition (J2SE platform); Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition (J2ME platform); and C language. Project JXTA provides the building blocks with which peers find each other (dynamic discovery), organize into virtual subdomains (peer groups), and communicate across different network types and protocols (pipes).

Additionally, Project JXTA protocols are agnostic regarding the service model and sit just above the network transport interfaces of the operating system to create a virtual P2P network. This arrangement complements leading distributed programming models such as Web services and Jini network technology.

Two recent examples of commercially available products built with Project JXTA P2P technology and Java technology are Momentum, from InView Software, and IAM-Developing, from Internet Access Methods (IAM). Using Project JXTA technology for their underlying P2P network, both companies brought products to market quickly by focusing development and innovation on the application layers, where the companies add unique value.

IAM's application allows multiple Java developers to work collaboratively on the same source files and to build environments, even if the developers are in different places. InView's application allows Solaris Operating Environment, Linux, and Windows users to create shared work spaces on their systems. Users can invite others to participate in these work spaces to share files, exchange messages, and simultaneously edit shared documents. Both solutions let remote and mobile users collaborate directly with each other, even across firewalls.

Project JXTA in Action

In addition to the desktop solutions from IAM and InView, a broad range of networked devices and applications are incorporating Project JXTA technology.

For example, the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) has adopted Project JXTA technology for use in embedded devices and sensors such as the fuel-level sensors, gasoline dispensers, point-of-sale (POS) terminals, and car wash controllers that are ubiquitous in convenience stores, a typical rugged, complex retail environment. (See related interview with John Hervey, NACS's CTO, in this edition of Boardroom Minutes: Retail). Project JXTA technology enables NACS members to deploy low-cost, open, standards-based networks in their convenience stores to connect devices from many manufacturers, with no single point of failure.

In a different type of application, the National Association of Realtors is using Project JXTA technology to link its members' commercial real estate database servers. This application provides the ability to query the latest local and remote real estate listings, without requiring member databases to give up their autonomy or compelling members to fund a centrally managed database.

Project JXTA gives developers tools and design options for building network applications that thrive in dynamic environments such as the retail sector. In today's networks, service providers and consumers—all peers in a P2P environment—may be available only intermittently and may not have stable network connections or fixed addresses.

They are likely to have heterogeneous equipment and run diverse programming and networking environments. Peers may be mobile or rely more on ad hoc, dynamically discovered and established relationships than are practical (or desirable) to manage via centralized directories.

Rather than try to eliminate centralization or servers, Project JXTA technology addresses these challenges by providing additional mechanisms and design choices to enable or simplify access to distributed resources and data on any device on the network.

Juan Carlos Soto, engineering and business manager, Sun's Advanced Software Technologies Group, Software CTO Office, contributed to this article.