IBM AND SUN: THE BEGINNING OF A BEAUTIFUL FRIENDSHIP

    Monday, September 16, 1996

    By Ira Sager in Somers, N.Y.
    Business Week
    Information Processing

    How did IBM become a Java devotee? Java fever started in mid-1995 among IBM
    researchers. Word of the new technology from Sun Microsystems Inc. started to
    spread after a software expert found that by using Java he could write one
    version of an IBM computer language that ran on many operating systems, so he
    didn't have to rewrite it for each. Soon, IBM researchers saw that Java also
    might help them to solve one of their most pressing problems: getting all
    IBM's incompatible computer lines to work together--and with other computer
    brands--on networks, including the Internet.
    It didn't take long for the message to move from research to the top
    reaches of IBM management, where CEO Louis V. Gerstner Jr. was gearing up for
    a network push. By September, he had been briefed by Sun President Scott G.
    McNealy, and soon after, IBM became one of the first licensees for Java.
    While the computer industry buzzed about how miniprograms, known as Java
    ``applets,'' would soon be zipping across the Net, IBM focused on how the new
    technology could bring all sorts of existing computers into the networked
    world.
    In November, Senior Vice-President John M. Thompson, IBM's top software
    exec, called Eric Schmidt, Sun's chief technology officer. An excited
    Thompson, Schmidt recalls, said: ``There are even bigger opportunities than
    you guys think.'' For example, Java could pave the way to electronic commerce
    by tapping into existing corporate databases.
    CRACKING THE VAULT. Soon after that call, the two companies broadened their
    fresh new relationship to include all sorts of collaborative efforts aimed at
    using Java to pry data from mainframes for wide commercial use. IBM is
    working with Sun Microsystems to speed the performance of Java, developing
    tools for writing more software for Java, and building a library of Java
    programs to provide access to IBM mainframe databases. At IBM's lab in
    Hursley, England, a whole new unit has been established that is devoted to
    Java research.
    By the end of this year, IBM plans to have Java built into all its major
    operating systems--from PCs to mainframes. Eventually, says Irving
    Wladawsky-Berger, general manager of IBM's Internet Div., every one of the
    company's applications will use Java. ``IBM's commitment to Java is second
    only to Sun's,'' says Merrill Lynch & Co. analyst Bruce D. Smith. ``They view
    Java as a potent wedge into Microsoft's Windows architecture.''
    Just how far Big Blue can drive into Microsoft territory remains to be
    seen. But in the next few weeks, the company will begin its push with a Java
    version of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 3.1 operating system that the company
    claims will be ideal for helping desktop computers retrieve data from
    mainframes. ``We are going to be the people to bring Java to your desktop,
    not Microsoft,'' says David N. Gee, IBM's Java marketing manager. If he can
    deliver on that boast, IBM may yet see its Net dreams come true.

    By Ira Sager in Somers, N.Y.

    Copyright 1996 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Any use
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