News & Views, July 2001

Lombard, IL - e-business software and services leader michaels, ross & cole, ltd. (mrc) today announced that it has integrated support for non-iSeries platforms into its iSeries tool suite, the mrc-Productivity Series2000. Application developers, using its user-friendly interface, can quickly define business specifications for Web applications; the mrc-Productivity Series then generates all the necessary code to deploy that application to any platform.

This open-platform support is a feature of mrc’s Java servlets, which can be deployed to any Java-capable Web server. Servlets are platform-independent, server-side Java applications that fit seamlessly into a Web server framework and can be used to extend the capabilities of a Web server with minimal overhead, maintenance, and support. The mrc-Productivity Series automatically generates servlets without any manual programming, facilitating the development of interactive, Web-based business applications that enjoy platform independence. This independence protects organizations from re-creating applications when integrating additional platforms into their business models.

"Though we remain committed to making it easy and effective to develop all kinds of business applications - Web, green screen, or client/server - on the iSeries, we also recognize the changing business model that our customers are experiencing. Whether due to mergers, cost concerns, new partnerships, or changing business needs, our customers are introducing non-iSeries platforms into their IS infrastructures," explains mrc communications director, Tracy Doell. "Many of these customers have counted on mrc for as many as twenty years. Our goal is to ensure that they can continue to count on our productivity solutions, indefinitely."

Last month, we discussed the benefits and capabilities of CGI technology. This month, we continue our Web technology series with an overview of Java applets.

Java is an object-oriented programming language, designed to be architecture neutral so that it could run on any computer, regardless of the underlying hardware or operating systems. IBM and Sun Microsystems committed themselves to Java and made sure that it became the open, cross-platform, de facto industry standard language for network computing and the World Wide Web. mrc’s Java support began in 1997 with the addition of Java applets and continues today with the addition of Java servlets.

Java servlets provide the same benefits of Java applets, but run on the server instead of the browser. Servlets provide advantages over not only Java applets, but over other Web technologies as well. We’ll discuss servlets more next month in our final article in this series. For now, let’s talk about applets.

A Java applet is a program written in the Java programming language that can be included in a Web page. A Java applet is designed to be included in an HTML document with special tags pointing to the Java program. Java programs are interpreted and executed through Java Virtual Machine (JVM); a Web browser uses the JVM to run the applet.

A Java applet establishes an open session with the server. Once loaded, the applet provides the same sub-second access to data they enjoy in a green-screen environment, but with a familiar, Web-friendly interface. Java applets could replace current applications that are used throughout the day to look up or modify information.

A Java applet consists of one central server program and only one central client program, which is downloaded real-time to the user. This greatly simplifies application maintenance and administration.

mrc’s Java applets are automatically generated using the same easy-to-use interface that makes the mrc-Productivity Series such a user-friendly tool suite.

Watch for next month’s News & Views when we take a close look at Java servlets.

Java, whose original name was Oak, was developed as part of the Green project at Sun. It was started in December 1990 by Patrick Naughton, Mike Sheridan and James Gosling and was chartered to figure out what would be the "next wave" of computing. Their initial conclusion was that at least one significant trend would be the convergence of digitally controlled consumer devices and computers.

18 months later, the Green Team emerged with a working demo of an interactive, handheld home-entertainment device controller with an animated touchscreen user interface. The device was called *7 ("StarSeven"), named after an answer-your-phone-from-any-extension feature of the phone system in the Green Team office.

The reason *7 was able to control a wide range of entertainment platforms and appliances - while displaying animation - is that it ran on an entirely new, processor-independent language. The language itself was created by Green Team member James Gosling specifically for *7. Gosling called the new language "Oak," after the tree outside his window.

Since its introduction in May 1995, the Java platform has been adopted more quickly across the industry than any other new technology in computing history.

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Congratulations go to Creative Foam this month for winning our consulting contest! Creative Foam is our lucky drawing winner and will receive 3 days of mrc’s expert consulting service.

For those who didn’t win, you may be able to take advantage of some upcoming consulting promotions or the assistance of our technical support staff. Please contact Steve Spieler for more information on taking advantage of mrc’s support options. Steve can be reached at 630/916-0662 or steves@mrc-productivity.com.

mrc is pleased to welcome these new customers:

• Oneida Tribe of Indians
• AEI Cables
• W & J Leigh
• Nordben Life & Pension
• Walsham Brothers & Co.
• Prettl Electric
• HYCO International
• HL Foods

mrc offers training sessions at both your location and ours. Visit our education area for more information on our education services, or click here to view our schedule for the entire year. (You will have to log in with your user name and password to visit this area. If you need login instructions, please click here first.)