SAP announces J2EE support with NetWeaver
By Mike Houghton
Introduction
This year SAP's TechEd was held in San Diego where over 4000 IT
professionals came together to get some insight and training on
what's coming down the SAP pipeline. The big announcement, the
NetWeaver technology platform will now offer support for the
Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition standard (J2EE). They went
on to say that part of NetWeavers new capability includes
mission-critical stability for enterprise-scale Java
applications. We wanted to know more about this and thought the
Java community would to. We spoke to Ziv Carthy, the head of the
SAP Developer Network to get the story.
Key Features of NetWeaver
One of the new additions to the Java functionality of NetWeaver
includes the Java Virtual Machine container technology. This
will allow standard Java code to run on a framework around the
Java Virtual Machine itself. It does this by reducing the number
of parallel users per virtual machine. It also improves on the
overall memory consumption, the application stability and the
number of affected users in the event of a screen freeze, loss
of data or the need for re-keying of information.
The JVM technology also includes several added features designed
to assist developers in managing error resolutions. This includes
the ability for developers to switch a user process in the
production system in or out of debugging mode on the fly
allowing for minimum downtime. While also including tracing and
monitoring tools for error analysis and hopefully a quick
resolution.
So now, not only does NetWeaver offer support for such standards
as HTTP, XML, Web services and of course ABAP, but now it also
offers support for Java. All of this adds to SAP’s future
interoperability with such applications as Microsoft .NET and
IBM WebSphere.
SAP NetWeaver is the technical foundation of mySAP Business
Suite solutions, SAP xApps composite applications, partner
solutions, and customer custom-built applications. It also
enables Enterprise Services Architecture, SAP's blueprint for
service-oriented business solutions. NetWeaver is also a
comprehensive change management application and integration
platform that works with existing IT infrastructures. It enables
infrastructure integration to link remote sales forces with
order management, logistics, and transportation operations.
SAP NetWeaver Background
SAP was founded in 1972. Today, SAP has over 12 million users
and 1,500 partners. SAP of Walldorf, Germany is the largest
maker of enterprise application software in the world.
Among other things, SAP offers mySAP which is a tightly
integrated, comprehensive suite of enterprise addaptive
solutions. NetWeaver is the technical foundation of this suite.
It allows application developers to build, test and implement
new business strategies and processes in their web applications.
When we spoke to Ziv Carthy last week in a phone interview he
told us that SAP is moving forward with cross platform support.
SAP while keeping ABPU as their standard language, will add Java
support which will, no doubt, help to diversify their customer
base. By combining ABAP and Java support in one application, NetWeaver
provides a single environment in which to work with applications
regardless of what language they are written in.
With NetWeaver providing a DB schema separately for Java the
possibilities are enormous for consumers to develop new
applications in web enabled scenarios totally using Java or
.Net, avoiding ABAP altogether if they choose. This saves time,
money and effort for developers.
The Competition
Some of SAP’s major competitors include such companies as
Manugistics, headquartered in Rockville, MD, offers the
industry's most proven demand and supply chain solutions,
including enterprise applications and infrastructure products,
strategic consulting, and Manugistics Consulting Services.
Oracle is another major player. Headquartered in Redwood Shores,
CA. Oracle is the world's leading supplier of software for
information management, and the second largest independent
software company on the planet. Also there is PeopleSoft, soon
to be owned by Oracle and headquartered in Pleasanton,
California. PeopleSoft currently has over 12,000 employees and
annual revenue of more than $2.3 billion. They offer such
solutions as "Real-Time Enterprise" which can be explained more
easily as a business philosophy to move business processes to
the internet.
All of these vendors offer in-depth customizable and dependable
enterprise IT solutions. It makes sense to talk to each of them
when developing or considering a business strategy for
optimizing both the supply-side and the demand-side of your
business.
Summary
Now that SAP NetWeaver supports Java we will start to see a real
positive impact in the marketplace for those who are in search
of a cost-effective means to deploy and manage Java applications
in their enterprise and small businesses. For companies of all
sizes looking for a way to adapt quickly to market changes,
respond to unforeseen challenges and to seize new opportunities,
SAP NetWeaver is a tool that is worth looking into.
Resources:
SAP
mySAP
HP Partners with SAP
SAP
Metagroup
xApps
TechEd
SAP Announcement
Microsoft .NET
Manugistics
PeopleSoft
Oracle
IBM WebSphere
New on the Java Boutique:
New Review:
Time Management Made Easy with the Quartz Enterprise Job Scheduler
Why not just use the Java timer API? This open source scheduling
API boasts simplicity, ease-of-integration, a well-rounded feature
set, and it's free!
New Applet:
Reverse Complement
Reverse Complement is a simple applet that converts DNA or RNA
sequences into three useful formats.
Elsewhere on internet.com:
WebDeveloper Java
Lots of Java information on webdeveloper.com
WDVL Java
Thorough Java resource at the Web Developer's Virtual Library.
ScriptSearch Java
Hundreds of free Java code files to download.
jGuru: Your View of the Java Universe
Customizable portal with online training, FAQs, regular news updates, and tutorials.
