Lotus is operating a special World Wide Website dedicated to its emerging NC (network computer) software environment, codenamed Kona, offering detailed information on topics that include InfoBus, a piece of the Kona architecture just licensed by Sun (NASDAQ:SUNW) for the JDK (Java Developers Kit).

"InfoBus will now become the standard for information sharing between JavaBeans," said Peter Cohen, Lotus's marketing manager for Java applets.

"JavaBean builders will be able to implement InfoBus so as to let bean users send information from one Java applet to any other (Java) applet. There's nothing hard-wired about InfoBus," Cohen said.

InfoBus consists of a set of Java interfaces that can be implemented by developers as extensions to JavaBeans, for managing data exchange between applets. By passing information back and forth, InfoBus-enabled JavaBeans applets such as spreadsheets, charts, and project schedulers will be able to update one another, he explained.

Lotus first unveiled InfoBus at Lotusphere in Orlando, Florida, as part of the January launch of the NC computing environment, codenamed Kona.

In a meeting with Newsbytes at that show, Michael H. Welles, general manager of NextGeneration Projects for Lotus, noted that, beyond InfoBus and a set of applets, Lotus's forthcoming NC environment will also include InfoCenter, a piece of software architecture containing a "common set of services" for applets, such as fonts, colors, and file name services.

Cohen says that Sun's recent licensing of Lotus's InfoBus "lends strong credibility to Lotus's investment in Java."

The Java applets marketing manager added that Lotus is right on track to release its new JVM (Java Virtual Machine)-based NC software environment during the third quarter.

Lotus has not yet decided on a name for its NC environment, Cohen said, "but (the name) won't be Kona,".

Lotus's Kona Web site offers a Kona demo, answers to dozens of FAQs about Kona, and its constituent parts; press releases; press/analyst quotes; information derived from events at Lotusphere, including general and breakout sessions, and the product showcase; and a list of upcoming Kona-related events.

Although final packaging is still being worked out, and specific plans may change in the future, Lotus currently envisions producing word processor; spreadsheet; charting; project scheduler; PIM (personal information manager); e- mail client; and SQL/JDBC (structured query language/Java database connectivity) data access applets, according to information posted on the site.

Sun expects to incorporate Kona's InfoBus into its JDK (Java Developers Kit) by the first quarter of 1998, following a period of public review and comment set to take place during the current quarter.

Cohen said that Lotus is slated to make the InfoBus code available to Sun in May.

Also for use in Java, Sun is adopting IBM's JavaBeans Migration Assistant for ActiveX, a tool designed to analyze ActiveX controls, and to then produce a 100 percent Pure Java container that takes on and implements the functions of the Microsoft controls.

Sun plans to post the JavaBeans Migrations Assistant for ActiveX on its Web site later this month.

Source: Newsbytes