Oracle sought to stay on the leading edge of the Java and network computing phenomena last week, laying out a road map for supporting Java in its database and detailing Version 1.0 of its Network Computer operating system.

At Internet World in New York, Oracle announced Java-related tools and features, including J/SQL, a form of embedded SQL in Java; support for thin- client Java Database Connectivity (JDBC), which allows thin clients to connect directly to databases without going through middleware or an application server; and the embedding of the Java virtual machine in its forthcoming Oracle8 database, which will allow developers to write stored procedures and define data types using the Java language.

The announcement aimed to illustrate how Oracle is using Java in all levels of its Network Computing Architecture (NCA) for distributed computing -- on back-end data servers, middle-tier applications servers, and client applications -- according to Mark Jarvis, vice president of server marketing at Oracle.

"We have Java in every tier of this [NC] model," Jarvis said.

J/SQL is an extension of JDBC that allows developers to write SQL queries and translates the SQL statements into JDBC code.

Meanwhile, in Paris last week Oracle CEO Larry Ellison capped off the company's developers' conference with a few details of the company's NC Server 1.0 software that hosts NC clients.

NC Server is a multitasking operating system and includes Oracle's database, messaging, and Web server technology, Ellison said, adding that the OS only runs on Intel-based architecture systems.

Oracle's offering will compete with Windows NT, Ellison said.

"The problem with NT is that you have all these configuration choices," Ellison said. "[Windows NT has] 1 million-and-one configurations, incredible complexity. ... We have this nonconfigurable server, called NC Server. You just plug it in like an appliance."

Oracle also announced that its Project Apollo merchant server, which went into beta testing this week, will be released in April and can act as a cartridge or plug-in with Oracle's NCA. The Oracle Web Server 3.0, which will run Java and CORBA objects, will be available in the first quarter of 1997.

Source: InfoWorld