For iSeries shops, there is no better technology bet than J2EE. The philosophy, technology, and market opportunity of J2EE outpaces all its rivals. Further, J2EE leads directly to many related technologies such as data and process integration, portals, and service oriented architecture (SOA). J2EE's cross-platform implementation leverages emerging trends in open source, operating systems (Linux, for example), and hardware (62-bit processors, blades, and grid computing). Enterprise-ready today, yet suitable for small and medium-sized businesses, J2EE is fast becoming the predominant computing platform for the next decade.

J2EE is an extension of the Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE) language definition. By extending Java to server-side, enterprise-level applications, J2EE provides the functions necessary to integrate disparate servers and databases as well as a multitude of legacy applications and architectures. In fact, J2EE is rapidly making operating systems irrelevant. Because J2EE comprehensively defines all of the interfaces necessary to create modern applications, programmers no longer must interact with system APIs. J2EE is the target environment, not the hardware or operating system. Further, Java provides a high-powered mechanism to create browser-based interfaces and Web services on top of RPG and DB2 applications on the iSeries.

There are several keys to J2EE's success. First is the commitment to open-source concepts. Although the Java specification is owned by Sun, the Java Community Process (JCP) has worked effectively as an open-source body, lacking only the imprimatur of a standards body. By engaging almost all of the computing community in a collective effort to create a single language specification, complete with reference implementations, the JCP has avoided proprietary technologies and language splintering more effectively than any single vendor has ever done. This has led to numerous open-source implementations of Web application servers (Tomcat, JBOSS), tools (Eclipse), utilities, class libraries, and remote services. Most of the open-source community is actively supporting Java and J2EE.

Second is the actual delivery of "write once, run anywhere" technology. The portability of Java across platforms is a reality unmatched by other standards such as C and SQL. This key feature is driving the ubiquity of Java. It keeps implementations competitive and deployment flexible, and it makes it possible to scale an application from low-end Intel hardware all the way to the mainframe. No other platform offers this range of hardware and OS support.

*Read Carson Soule's complete viewpoint article online. For the .NET perspective of these two industry-standard Web app serving titans, see last week's guest viewpoint, The Continuing Inevitability of .NET, by Tim Huckaby.