More than just another pretty name
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`August 1998
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`Sun's Jini opens up a new world of distributed computer systems
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`By Rob Guth
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`Abstract
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`Hey, can it really be vaporware if Merrill Lynch is writing reports about it? Sun's recently
`announced Jini technology promises to turn the world into one big distributed computer
`Correspondent Rob Guth explains how the world might look once Jini gets released, and why
`companies like Lucent and Microsoft are investing in similar technologies (2,200 words)
`
`The software revolution hasn't begun yet, but it will soon
`
`-- David Gelernter, "Mirror Worlds" (1991)
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`development project disclosed by Sun Microsystems Inc last month called Jini comes with
`three wishes, but unlike those bestowed by the genies of legend, Sun's wishes are not
`guaranteed
`
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`Mail this
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`article to
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`a friend
`
`The first wish was granted the day Sun publicized that it was tying several of its Java
`development projects into a new architecture called Jini The company's stock price shot up from just over $46
`that Wednesday morning, to close out the next day near $50.
`
`Securities firm Merrill Lynch, in a report the following week, explained the jump, saying that Jini "should
`further Java's adoption" which is finding its way into more and more large companies' information networks.
`Merrill maintained its long term "buy" recommendation on Sun stock
`
`Though Sun, a seller of high-end workstations and servers,
`currently garners little revenue directly from Java, the
`programming language has helped drive the company's share
`price to record levels Sun is being rewarded today for the
`promise that Java in future will help grow the overall market for
`computers and in turn, demand for Sun's hardware, according to
`the Merrill report.
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`When Sun publicized Jini,
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`the company's stock price shot
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`up from just over $46 to close
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`out the next day near $50
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`More just another interesting project from Sun Labs, the Jini development, draws on years of research into
`distributed systems, which aspire to blend traditional networks and computers into one single system. Similar
`work is also under way at Microsoft, under the code name Millennium, while other vendors including Lucent
`and IBM are also trying to make distributed systems a commercial reality.
`
`"It's (Jini is) a beautiful integration of a lot of ideas from a lot of people and that's the way you progress in this
`field," says David Farber, Moore professor of telecommunications at the University of Pennsylvania and an early
`pioneer of distributed systems "In the short term, I think we'll see the Jini activity is correct
` you want to go
`down a path of distributed computing and it will push that further along."
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`The long-term future for Sun's development project however is still open to question. Could Jini grant Sun's
`remaining two wishes -- redefine the model for computing that has held for the past 20 years as well as give
`birth to a new world of electronic markets?
`
`"Someone has to make the bet," Farber says. "When you bet, sometimes you win and some times you lose. ...
`You need people who will go out and do it. I hope Sun has that courage to do it."
`
`The key attribute of Jini, according to Sun, is that the software will make it easier for developers to build
`distributed systems. In the Jini world view, anything connected to a network -- be it hard drive, person or
`software -- is represented by a software object and Jini provides a way to label those objects.
`
`The combination of several Java-related technologies enables the objects -- which contain both data and code --
`to move across a network from place to place and employ each other to perform tasks. An object representing a
`camera, for instance, can find and then output its images to a printer. With code and data describing a device able
`to move freely over the network, Jini devices can use, and be used by, any other device on the network in a fluid
`way, Sun officials say.
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`Advertisements
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`Computing the "singles bar" way
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`Objects in the Jini system do not have to be centrally managed and instead, are matched by a sort of electronic
`bulletin board that lists the objects' attributes, according to the company. Sun's chief scientist, John Gage, likes
`to call Jini "the singles bar" model of computing since the process mimics people looking for partners in the real
`world.
`
`Sun believes Jini could be used as a foundation for connecting large numbers of
`machines into distributed systems that are self-monitoring and able to move and
`replicate data automatically. If Jini achieves its second wish of redefining the
`computer, users of any device from a smartcard upward could be freed from concerns
`about the location of data and where computations are performed. The operating
`system as we know it today could quietly retire. Sun co-founder and chief Jini
`architect Bill Joy admits this distributed systems dream will take "a quantum leap in
`thinking."
`
`But there is more. If Jini enables objects to communicate like people, why not use it to
`migrate real-world transactions and interactions into software on the network? The
`long-term future for Jini could be as a building block for networked markets and
`software "mirror worlds" of the one we know today, some observers say.
`The Mirror World
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`This third and final wish sounds straight from ancient tales of magic lamps and flying carpets, but draws on the
`research of David Gelernter, a Yale University computer scientist who pioneered the concept behind JavaSpaces,
`one key piece of the Jini project, Sun officials say
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`Bill Joy
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`
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`"Like a child-sized play village modeled precisely on a real town and tracking reality's every move, the Mirror
`World supplies a software object to make and track every real one," Gelernter wrote in his 1991 book "Mirror
`Worlds." "Each visitor will zoom in and around and roam through the model as he chooses at whatever pace and
`level of detail he likes. On departing he will leave a bevy of software alter-egos behind to keep tabs on whatever
`interests him."
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`Now that Jini is public, Sun's Joy is reportedly investigating such alter-ego software,
`delving into the social and technical aspects of software agents. Joy is also co-chair of
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`David Gelernter
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`a committee appointed by U.S. President Bill Clinton that in a soon-to-be-released
`report will recommend federal funding of IT research projects that are "based on
`assumptions not true today," according to a draft copy of the report. The committee
`specifically cites Gelernter's "Mirror Worlds" as an example area of research.
`News to you; news to Sun
`
`But behind such blue-sky visions lies a fledgling technology that many within Sun still
`do not understand. Developed quietly in Aspen, Colorado, and in the Boston suburb of
`Chelmsford, Jini is the brainchild of Joy and a cadre of Sun insiders not involved in the
`day-to-day grind. As a result, when Jini surfaced last month, a host of Sun executives
`were at a loss as to exactly what the technology is and how to explain it.
`
`Is Jini an R&D project or a product? Is the core Jini code 24K bytes or 48K bytes in
`size? How much of Jini's source code will be released? Is that source code finished? These questions and others
`were flying around Sun even as Jini was being let out its bottle, officials said.
`
`Asked about Jini at Sun's earnings announcement two days after news of Jini broke, Chief Operating Officer Ed
`Zander looked to his boss, Chairman and CEO Scott McNealy for help. "Scott and I are trying to flip a coin here
`and see who's smarter on this," Zander confessed. McNealy, however was not much help, simply summing up
`the work as "exciting and compelling."
`
`Even Jini's name is still in question. The name was originally taken from a program Joy wrote to generate all
`words that start with "J" (for Java) that can be pronounced in English. "Jini" sounded good to Joy and sounded
`like the magical spirits in the ancient tales "Arabian Nights' Entertainments," a Sun official says. Sun is now
`trying to decide what that name means. Is it Java Intelligent Network Infrastructure? Java Information Network
`Infrastructure? Or, Jini Is Not Initials?
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`Names aside, Jini's future is now in the hands of developers. Sun said it will give away Jini source code for free.
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`Sun hopes that opening up the source code will jump-start the development of Jini-enabled software and devices,
`company said. The vendor already has about 30 partners working with Jini including Computer Associates
`International Inc., L.M. Ericsson Telephone Co. and Toshiba Corp.
`Jini takes its first steps
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`The first step for Jini will likely be a small one: As the simple glue for enabling devices such as printers, storage
`systems, and cameras to more easily interact and cooperate over a network than they do today, company officials
`said.
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`At Sun's semiconductor unit in Sunnyvale, California, the company is demonstrating to potential Jini users its
`claims of how Jini-enabled machines can seamlessly connect to a network and easily create an ensemble of
`devices working together.
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`One of Sun's demonstrations involves a camera that, when plugged into a LAN (local area network),
`automatically configures itself to the network without the necessary device drivers. Controlling the camera from
`an icon displayed on any of several screens, a user can store images on a networked storage system or tap the
`power of a workstation to edit the image.
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`And if Jini can indeed be used to connect appliances around the home and tools at the office, Sun hopes the
`architecture can scale up to the level where the tasks of thousands or even millions of users and devices are
`managed by Java objects zipping around the network without the central control of an operating system.
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`Sun hopes Jini can
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`scale to the level where
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`Windows, and all major operating systems -- Solaris included -- manage
`all of a system's resources -- memory, storage, processor -- under one
`roof: a PC or workstation. The operating system loads data and
`programs, handles all input/output operations and manages memory,
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`millions of tasks are
`managed by Java objects
`
`keeping track of where data and programs are stored. The key point is
`that all of these components are in one location and managed by one
`"bOSS_"
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`The Jini vision is to take all of those pieces and toss them out across a network. Java objects could travel the
`network and carry out the same communication between components that today is handled by an operating
`system.
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`"This is the next level in the evolution of [computer] systems," says Gage. "Today people think about a system
`as being in one place, right here but it is a very simple step to imagine you break it up -- cut the computer up into
`all its little operating pieces."
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`Suppose a manager on the road with just a PalmPilot or a similar handheld device is suddenly asked by his or
`her boss to translate a document from English to Arabic. Though the Pilot has limited capabilities -- no storage,
`low processing power and little memory -- the user in the new Jini world can tap into the network, move the
`document from a storage system at work to a machine with translation software and processing power. When the
`translation is done, the manager can print the document to a colleague's printer for a proofreading. In this
`example, the Pilot acted as portal to the Jini network that enabled the manager to remotely access all of the
`resources as if they were right in front of her.
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`Part of the evolution, Sun hopes, is the birth of Jini marketplaces: virtual markets where services can be offered
`for money and where third parties might fashion new services by mixing and matching other services like Lego
`building blocks. If a lone disk drive can be a storage service on a Jini network, why can‘t an entrepreneur with an
`archival tape drive in his or her living room build a business offering storage to the world of Jini devices and
`users?
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`Sun has already released APIs (application programming interfaces) for Java that ensure that all events occur in
`a transaction before the whole transaction is finished. Also available are APIs for adding to Jini "leasing" -- the
`ability for objects to negotiate with each other the period of time a particular service is available for use.
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`In the world of Jini marketplaces, the manager with the translation task could use Jini businesses to handle his or
`her task. The manager could send the document as part of an object into the Jini network with the question "can
`anyone translate this for less than $50 by Friday?"
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`A translation specialist, meanwhile, has registered its service and prices on the Jini marketplace. The matching
`of the two and the resultant transaction would be handled on the network. The matchmaking could also be
`handled by a Jini broker who brings buyers and sellers-represented by objects-together and mediates an
`agreement. Another business -- the tape drive in the living room -- for a fee may offer the manager secure
`storage for the document until it is needed.
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`Sun officials admit that such examples constitute little more than crystal ball gazing at the moment. But if Jini
`catches on as Sun hopes, we might come closer to the radical world that distributed systems researchers have
`envisioned for years.
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`"You will look into a computer screen and see reality. Some part of your world -— the town you live in, the
`company you work for, your school system, the city hospital -- will hang there in a sharp color image, abstract
`but recognizable," Gelemter wrote in "Mirror Worlds", back in 1991. "You stuff the huge multi-institutional
`"ratwor " that encompasses you into a genie bottle on your desk." I
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`Rob Guth is a correspondent with the IDG News Service. Additional reporting by James Niccolai.
`
`
`V ‘ Go
`‘Also this month in SunWorId
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`Resources
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`m http://java.sun.c0m/products/jini/
`JavaSpaces http://java.sun.com/products/javaspaces/
`David Gelernter's companl Mirror Worlds Technologies, Inc http://www.mi1rorworlds.com
`For a more technical ViewI check out Java World '5 recent storyd "The skimrx on Jini"
`http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-OS-1998/jw-08-jini.html
`0 "Sun to let Jini spec out of the bottle," July 1998 Sun World news story http://www.sunworld.com/swol-07-
`1998/swol-07-jini.html
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`SllllWlll‘lfl
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`__I —_l —_l
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`__l —_l
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`13 um.” we. mun-m. manna—cum var Trad-nub I: Noda-
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`If you have technical problems with this magazine, contact webmaster@sunworld.com
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`URL: http://www.sunworld.com/swol-08-1998/swol-08-jini.html
`Last modified:
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