We looked last week at how Sun is finally getting serious about exploiting its own Java technology in the mobile space, aiming to seize back the initiative from the handset makers in the area of the user interface and applications. But equally important in delivering the full mobile internet experience will be the application server and, in particular, the move to the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS). They attracted rather less attention, but here too Sun was making important steps forward in its announcements at the recent JavaOne conference, carving out a role for the enterprise – as opposed to mobile – edition of Java, in supporting server applications for wireless networks. Just as we believe Sun must work closely with Motorola to maximize its chances of dominating the J2ME device arena, at the server end it has already nabbed the most important partner, Ericsson.
The two companies will co-develop a series of Java server applications for IMS, and will contribute these to the GlassFish J2EE open source community, itself a huge breakthrough for Ericsson, whose interest in moving from the closed cellular world into open source has been far less developed than that of Nokia or Motorola (despite the importance of Linux in the telco server sector).
While Martin Harriman, vice president of marketing and business development at Ericsson Multimedia, showed the customary sang-froid of his company by merely saying of open source: “This is a big step for us, we’ve never worked like this before”, Sun’s executives were far more effusive, probably because Sun’s success in the world of converged telcos is far more dependent on Ericsson’s support than vice versa. So Rich Green, the high profile senior VP of software at Sun, enthused: “For them to say the leading edge technology that is going to power their next big round of business is going to be in open source is a huge quantum leap for a company like that.” He was not far off the truth – Ericsson is the most embedded of all the vendors in traditional telco supplier models, and still profiting from them very healthily.
Now, its support for Java and GlassFish will, it believes, enable it to enhance its IMS platform ahead of those of rivals, attracting the input of the wider Java community. Any initiatives that will increase the variety and usefulness of mobile applications, and therefore uptake of mobile devices, will in turn stimulate demand for cellular infrastructure. For GlassFish, the new pact allows it to broaden its remit beyond its traditional enterprise apps base and into wireless networks, in return gaining experience that will be useful for creating mobile enterprise systems.
Specifically, the new agreement will make available to GlassFish the SIP protocol that is core to IMS, to deliver Java applications over wireless networks. This effectively confirms what had been likely since Cisco and others announced full-blown support for SIP last year – that SIP will be the standard for enterprise convergence and unified communications, not just for carrier IMS.
Under the pact, Ericsson will contribute parts of its server development to GlassFish, including tools and expertise to support developer communities. Ericsson may also allow developers to test their applications on a live IMS-based network.
“We realize that in developing new services around IMS that will change the way people live their lives, we can’t do that on our own,” said Harriman.