Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Appendix

Java Computing in the
Enterprise Whitepaper
(Postscript Compressed
141KB)

Java Computing in the
Enterprise Whitepaper
(Acrobat 124KB)

Sun's Java^TM technology has been described as a "revolution" in computing. The essence of this revolution is a shift in point of view from a "desktop-centric" model of computing to a "network-centric" paradigm. An important implication for the enterprise of this change is to move complexity off the desktop and onto the network and servers, where it can be centrally and professionally managed. "Java Computing" does this while continuing to deliver as much or more of the local processing power so important for today's graphic and multimedia-intensive applications.

There is much discontent in today's enterprise computing, stemming from several causes:

• It is too complex
• The constant administration and upgrading of desktops is too expensive
• It is not secure enough
• It is not reliable enough
• Incompatible desktops prevent universal access to application
• Applications take too long to develop and deploy

Java Computing addresses all of these problems. Just as important, its platform independence makes Java a paradigm that can be adopted incrementally, without making obsolete existing investments in hardware and software. Furthermore, a user can start today for far less investment than it takes to move to the next revision of the Windows/Intel architecture.

The Internet (and intranets) and Java have launched a huge wave of activity in the computing industry. All leading OS and browser platforms are building Java into their systems and major development tool vendors and application providers are supporting it. Java "applets" are popping up all over the Web, bringing new live capabilities to a formerly static medium. And a growing number of Global Fortune 1000 corporations have embraced Java networking as a facet of their mission-critical enterprise computing systems.

Much has been written about Java technically, but little has been said about what Java and other Internet technologies mean to a corporate executive trying to run his or her business. This paper is intended to address three questions:

1. What is Java Computing and what does it mean for enterprise computing?
2. Why does Java Computing make business sense?
3. How does a CIO develop, deploy and manage Java Computing in the enterprise?

This paper concludes that Java and other Internet technologies can offer a major improvement in simplicity, expense, security and reliability versus some enterprise computing environments in place today.

Based on Sun's internal experience with network computing, it is estimated that the full annual cost of operating Java-based clients in an enterprise environment will be less than $2,500 per seat. ("Java-based clients" are referred to in this document as "thin clients.") Typical expenses in today's existing environments to manage heterogeneous desktop-centric clients or "fat clients" (e.g. WindowsNT, Win95, UNIX, OS/2, Mac, etc.) are in the $10,000 to $15,000 range.

For example, according to the Gartner Group, the annual cost of running such clients is estimated at $11,900 per seat. (Gartner Group, Strategic Planning Research Note SPA-140-22, April 26, 1996). It is suggested that these savings could be realized for as many as 90% of an enterprise's clients, with only the highly intense, highly diverse application users needing to continue with a fat client. Thus, savings from moving from a fat-client to a thin-client architecture could be as much as $84 million annually for an enterprise with 10,000 clients.

Besides saving costs, Java can ensure that necessary features and functions are available to all enterprise users, with application front-ends being accessed through a common "webtop" environment. "Webtop" refers to a desktop environment that can run Java applications. This may be either a Java-enabled browser on an existing desktop platform, or a Java device desktop. Most significantly, nothing that exists today in current enterprise computing environments need be discarded to begin realizing these benefits; i.e., Java applications can be enabled on currently installed computing platforms, followed by a phased migration to the most economic platforms. Java-based client front-ends can likewise be added to existing legacy back ends in a phased, incremental approach.

In the same way that existing enterprise information can be quickly retargeted and deployed to the intranet Web, existing enterprise applications can be quickly retargeted to the webtop. Just as departments can customize their own Web pages, rich sets of Java application building tools can facilitate decentralized customization of application front-ends.

A big advantage of the Java Computing model is that users can log on anywhere they have access to the intranet Web and have full access to their complete home environment. Administrative costs for moving users are greatly reduced, and dial-up access at home or while traveling can give users the same full access to their data and applications. Connected mobile computing is thus greatly enhanced.

Another force has brought Java to the forefront of computing. The Internet is becoming a new channel to reach customers, suppliers and business partners, and the World Wide Web allows the enterprise to selectively provide information access via the Internet. Java expands this capability, enabling companies to offer selective access across the firewall to transactional enterprise applications. The ability to give customers, suppliers and partners this Java-based window into the enterprise for delivery of goods, services and information flows seamlessly from the adoption of a Java-based enterprise computing architecture -- also called Java Computing. This adds a top-line management motivation for Java enterprise computing to the already compelling cost-saving benefits mentioned above.

These advantages have combined to make Java the de-facto standard for network-based computing on the Internet and intranet. Nearly all of the software industry has licensed Java, has committed to use it or is performing extensive evaluations of it. Forrester Research reports that of the Fortune 1000 firms surveyed, 62% already use Java for some development and more than 40% expect Java to play a strategic role in their companies within the year. (The Forrester Report: Software Strategy Service, May, 1996)

It is suggested that before an enterprise invests additional millions in upgrading to new fat clients (e.g., upgrading clients to WindowsNT), a serious review be made of economic, security, reliability and feature/function benefits that can be realized today by migrating applications to Java and computing platforms to Java devices.

The up-front costs of moving to Java-based computing will be less than the cost of another upgrade of fat clients. The ongoing cost of Java-based enterprise computing could be less than a fifth of the cost per seat of a fat client architecture

To begin this migration process, the following steps are proposed:

1. Today:	Build an enterprise intranet infrastructure using Internet technologies.
2. Today:	Deploy a "webtop" (Java-capable browser) on all enterprise desktops.
3. Today:	Move electronic mail to the intranet with access through the "webtop."
4. Today:	Identify "dedicated-use" applications -- desktops where employees run a small set of custom applications all day long as their job. Write or re-write these applications in Java.
5. In 6 Months:	Begin deploying Java devices in these dedicated-use areas.
6. In 12 Months:	Begin to migrate other applications to Java so they can be accessed through the webtop.
7. In 18 Months:	When a critical mass of Java applications is present, begin replacing fat-client desktops with Java devices.