Since its introduction, The Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) has achieved remarkable success among application server providers and their customers. More than a dozen leading application server companies have announced J2EE compatible products, and over one million developers have downloaded the J2EE SDK from Sun's J2EE Web site (http://java.sun.com/j2ee).
Today, numerous enterprises face the challenge of developing distributed applications. IT professionals deal with a variety of issues: connecting dispersed users with centralized applications, building applications quickly and efficiently, and connecting heterogeneous clients and servers.
J2EE in Practice provides ten examples of ways that J2EE technology has helped leading corporations, educational institutions, and government organizations face these challenges and reap significant rewards. Chapters in this book explore how:
- JCrew enhanced its traditional catalog sales operation using J2EE technology from Art Technology Group (ATG).
- One of the country's largest mortgage companies, HomeSide Lending, produced innovative online lending services using the BEA WebLogic server.
- The Borland Application Server enabled AT&T Unisource to respond quickly to demand in long-distance voice traffic routing.
- Codexa Corporation used Brokat's GemStone/J platform to deliver information for widely dispersed financial services professionals.
- eTapestry.com delivers applications to assist nonprofits in their fundraising using GemStone/J and Sun Microsystem's Forte for Java development environment.
- Altura International used the HP BlueStone J2EE platform to implement the Web's first online catalog shopping portal, catalogcity.com.
- IBM customers Honeywell and Bekins use Java technology to improve processes on the manufacturing floor and in the warehousing and delivery of large consumer products.
- International Data Post (IDP), a service owned by seven European postal operators, brought snail mail to the Internet age using iPlanet's J2EE technology.
- Physics research institute CERN worked with Oracle to provide electronic document handling services to over 5000 users worldwide.
- J2EE technology helps the US Military Traffic Management Command, Freight Systems Office (FSO) manage and control costs of small package shipping.
About the Author
Dr. R. G. G. "Rick" Cattell is a distinguished engineer in Java platform software at Sun Microsystems, and a founding member of the Java Platform Group that produced J2EE. He has worked for 17 years at Sun Microsystems in senior roles, and for 10 years before that in research at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) and Carnegie-Mellon University. The author of more than 50 technical papers and five books, Cattell has worked with object technology and database systems since 1980. He is co-creator of JDBC, and was responsible for forming Sun's Database Engineering Group, whose performance tuning helped to make Sun a leading database server provider. He led the Cypress database management system effort at Xerox PARC, was a founder of SQL Access, and was founder and chair of the Object Database Management Group (ODMG). He authored the world's first monograph on object data management, and has received the Association for Computing Machinery Outstanding Dissertation Award.
