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  • Nihon Sun Microsystems to Enter SI Business Using Java
  • November 17, 1998 (TOKYO) -- Nihon Sun Microsystems K.K. informed Nikkei Watcher on IT Business that it will enter the systems integration (SI) service using Java, in a project called Road to Java, by June 1999.
    The company is engaged in indirect sales in Japan. But, when it teams up with larger partners, more time is required for evaluation of the most updated technologies. Also, large partners are inclined to choose their own development paths, taking advantage of the current technologies, the company said. This has made Java fall behind in terms of utilization.

    "Nihon Sun Microsystems will create an integrator specializing in Java, and build systems for user companies, and thereby validate the Java effect," said Ryuzo Masukawa, senior manager of professional services at Nihon Sun's Enterprise Services unit. Thus, the company intends to accelerate the spread of Java in the market.

    The new SI service will be offered by Java Center units at 20 sites in Japan and abroad. In October, the company started Java Quick Start, a two-week training program for prototype development and Java Architecture Assessment, an evaluation service provided for expanding the existing systems using Java.

    The full-fledged SI menu is being reviewed by the U.S.-based parent company.

    "Nihon Sun Microsystems will arrange it into a menu to meet with the actual business environment and will implement it at the same time as our parent company," Masukawa said.

    A total of 30 Java consultants work at the Java Center of Japan. The company will increase the number when the service starts. Also, for some specialized projects, consultants will be invited from overseas Java Centers to assist with systems development.

    The Java Center focuses mainly on supporting independent software vendors, which are developing Java software components.

    Even if such independent software vendors could build an entire system, questions would arise over guaranteeing the performance of such systems, said Minoru Totake, manager of the service marketing department of the company's Services Division, Enterprise Services.

    This is one of the reasons that the company has decided to move into the SI business.

    The service covers the entire process of system building from screening to deciding on use of Java software components or original development. It also includes system design, development and operations management, the company said.

    Program development will mainly be commissioned from partner companies. Nihon Sun Microsystems plans to propose short-term development programs using software components developed internally," Totake said.

    The company said that it will not use the software components developed by Sun for purposes other than the SI project. It won't promote such development and sales of Java-based packages through IBM Corp.'s San Francisco Project.

    Related story: IBM Japan to Launch 'San Francisco Project' by June

    (Nikkei Watcher on IT Business)



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    Updated: Mon Nov 16 17:59:40 1998 PDT