Novera Inc.'s Epic 1.1 Java-based middleware, a one-of-a-kind product that is still in its infancy, provides network printing and file services to thin clients running Java applets and applications.

This makes Enterprise Platform for Internet Computing a must-see for organizations considering a network computer rollout and willing to write custom Java applications that incorporate hooks to basic network services.

However, PC Week Labs advises companies that are not ready to build their own Java-based applications to wait for others to blaze the trail. (Corel Corp. is blazing the trail by using EPIC as the middleware for its upcoming Office for Java)

Priced starting at $7,500 for a 50-user license, EPIC 1.1 costs as much as $345,000 for a 10,000-user license, but it seems unlikely that most organizations would initially invest this heavily in Novera's product in its current stage of development.

New features in this release include support for X.500-compatible directory servers that comply with LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol). This LDAP support is important because it allows user profiles to be stored independently of the network operating system, which typically uses proprietary directory services.

LDAP support adds versatility

In PC Week Labs tests, the LDAP support allowed us to test EPIC using Netscape Communications Corp.'s LDAP-compliant Directory Server instead of the Unix server from the University of Michigan that Novera bundles with EPIC 1.1. LDAP support also means EPIC will work with future versions of IntranetWare and Windows NT because they will support LDAP.

The EPIC update, which shipped in March, also adds an updated, but not ideal, interface to the product's Management System applet, support for Lightweight Internet Person Schema and new development tools.

As a platform for developers, EPIC 1.1 gave PC Week Labs a glimpse of what a Java-enabled computing environment will look like, but the update was a bit slow, and its two applets (Management System and File Manager) were somewhat rough around the edges.

Written entirely in Java, EPIC runs as a JVM (Java virtual machine) under a kernel on both Windows NT and Unix hosts, providing a framework for offering traditional network services to browser-equipped clients.

By treating these services as Java objects, EPIC lets developers build Java applications that can be used on Unix, Macintosh or Windows clients that support the JVM.

The hooks to network services that can be provided this way promise to accelerate the development of real-world Java-based intranet applications.

Out of the box, EPIC does not provide any end-user features. To reap any of the product's benefits, developers have to write their own Java applications, making calls to the EPIC Java class libraries.

Getting into print

PC Week Labs tests of the print and file services that EPIC provides yielded mixed results.

Although we could use the Management System to print documents on a Hewlett-Packard Co. LaserJet IIID printer, this was only possible with the help of an EPIC printing patch from Novera's FTP site. After installing the patch on the dual-processor HP server that we used for testing, we had to configure the printer under Windows NT 4.0 before we could create a printer object with the Management System. Even then, we still had to adjust the printer's form feed controls by hand to print anything.

Tests of the File Manager applet from a client PC went more smoothly. After logging on to the HP server running EPIC 1.1 via Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer Web browser from a Micron Electronics Inc. PC running Windows 95, we found that the File Manager's interface closely resembled Windows 95's Explorer, which made navigating the server's directory tree easy.

We set up users and groups and could discern from the directory tree whether a user had read or write access to a given subdirectory, as well as if those rights were explicit or inherited from membership in a group.

The interface to the Management System could use some work. For example, the applet opened to a mostly blank screen. We feel it should open to show network resources at a glance.

Reclaiming the unused acreage in the right frame of the applet's Web-like interface by tightening up the options would do away with the need for the frame's vertical scroll bar. We found ourselves constantly scrolling up a half-inch to access buttons that scrolled off-screen.

These interface issues are relatively minor, however, and should be resolved in future releases.

Although installing EPIC 1.1 was straightforward, setting up the other components of the EPIC environment was somewhat convoluted. We not only had to install Netscape's Web browser on the HP server in order to install Netscape's LDAP Directory Server, but also had to modify and relocate some configuration files. However, these steps were well-documented on Novera's Web site.

The next release of EPIC, due in July, will add some end-user features, such as an E-mail client and a calendar applet. In addition to these personal productivity applets, the next release will include DB Blend, which will let developers query and update a database without writing SQL code.

Source: PC Week