January 25, 2002 - The newly ratified and elected members of the Java Community Process^SM (JCP) Program Executive Committees (EC) represent a wide variety of technology companies with interests around the globe. But recent interviews with EC representatives, conducted to obtain profiles included below, indicate that all share the similar vision of a bright future for the process and for Java^TM technology.

This year the ratification winners on the Standard/Enterprrise Edition (SE/EE) EC were Apache Software Foundation, Borland Software and Caldera Systems; for the Micro Edition (ME) EC the ratified companies were Insignia Solutions, Research in Motion and Sony. Elected companies for the SE/EE EC include Macromedia and Nokia Networks; for the ME EC it was Zucotto Wireless and Texas Instruments.

Between the constant, prolific march of technology advancement and the return of economic expansion most experts see for 2002, there should be plenty of work for the ECs in the coming year, the EC representatives for those companies agree. And interest in participation continues to grow. Twelve companies sought the two elected seats up for vote on the SE/EE committee this fall; nine ran for two elected seats on the ME committee.

"The number of companies that sought election to the Executive Committees was very encouraging," said Rob Gingell, Chair, Java Community Process Program. "It is a reflection of the increasing value that technology companies place on the Java Community Process and the work of the Executive Committees, now and in the future."

The representatives couldn't agree more. On the Micro side, Insignia representative Ron Workman says he expects to see expanded use of Java technology for information appliances. "Given some of the new standards that will be ratified during the next six months (e.g., PDA Profile, Personal Basis Profile), we expect an increase in shipments of Java technology enabled devices based on these standards," he says. "The infrastructure to transmit at higher bandwidths and technologies like multimedia will enable new, compelling and achievable capabilities for mobile phones."

Tim Rahrer, representative for Zucotto Wireless, is equally enthusiastic. He said he looks to coming releases as MIDP-NG, CLDC-NG and the Multimedia APIs with great anticipation. When the technologies are coupled with a Java technology-based processor core, "we will see industry-altering types of services and applications that can run on small, battery operated devices, resulting in compelling new content."

Marion Lineberry, of Texas Instuments, says that as the Java platform gets deployed in more varied markets, it's natural to expect that more companies will want to become involved in the JCP and that JSR requests will continue to grow. "That, combined with an increasing number of platforms for which maintenance reviews are required, will certainly keep the EC's workload full," he says. He also expects more widespread deployment of affordable, bandwidth-intensive wireless technologies such as GPRS, wireless LANs, and Bluetooth that will enable services such as multimedia messaging, short video clip and Internet audio downloads, email, real-time Web browsing, advanced security and games.

On the Standard/Enterprise side, Mikko Kolehmainen is the representative for Nokia, a newly elected member of the SE EC. "An expanding economy probably increases activies in a wide variety of Java technology areas, thus increasing the number of JSRs," said Kohelmainen. He smiles when he notes that he views the future through "telecom goggles" and looks forward to deployment of all-IP telecom networks.

Tony de la Lama, representing Borland Software, says the immediate challenge is to drive adoption of the standards. "Already we're seeing emerging methodologies and technologies to simplify EJB(TM) technology development and leverage existing Java projects," de la Lama says. "We also expect to see the acceleration of Web Services as a key technology that helps businesses leverage Java technology in meaningful way."

Sean Neville, the representative for Macromedia, sees network components becoming dynamic and pervasive as clients, peers, and servers connect for a specific business process but may not maintain long-term relationships. And at least as significant as any technology improvements, Neville says, are the design, process, and methodology improvements and how they will be applied. "To this point the Java industry has done a good job showing the "what" and the "how" Now we may be focusing on the "why, when and where" of new technology in applied contexts," he says. Neville says that, with the process and component improvements expected over the next several months, there is no more exciting time to be developing web-based applications. "We're looking forward to playing a part in making the next year in the lives of application designers and developers as fulfilling as they can be," Neville says, echoing the view of all the representatives.

Read on for more comments from the ratified and elected EC members.

• Standard/Enterprise Edition EC - Ratified
• Standard/Enterprise Edition EC - Elected
• Micro Edition EC - Ratified
• Micro Edition EC - Elected