Sun Microsystems Inc. announced Monday the release of the first public beta version of Connector Architecture for its Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE).
The J2EE Connector Architecture is designed to provide a “plug-and-play” architecture between back-end applications, such as CRM (customer resource management) and ERP (enterprise resource planning) applications, and J2EE compatible application servers, said Vijay Sarathy, J2EE Connectivity market manager.
“We’re trying to do the same thing that JDBC (Java database connectivity) has done for database access,” he said. JDBC enables users to connect databases from a variety of platforms to a program written in Java.
Application servers supporting the J2EE Connector Architecture will be able to use an architecture-based resource adapter for an enterprise system or legacy database, simplifying the integration between the two by defining a “common client interface,” Sun said in a statement.
The final version of the Connector Architecture will be released in the third quarter of this year, at the same time as J2EE version 1.3, Sarathy said.
“We do not see any significant changes between today and the final release,” he said. “If anything, just minor changes that may occur through feedback.”
There are currently more than 25 licensees of the J2EE platform, and the Connector Architecture is now in its final draft stage. Most of the licensees that include BEA Systems Inc., IBM Corp. and iPlanet, will make use of the Connector Architecture, according to Sarathy.
Sun, in Palo Alto, Calif., can be reached at http://www.sun.com/.