Monday, May 4, 2009

SpringSource Continues Enterprise Push With Hyperic Buy

SpringSource on Monday said it would acquire Hyperic, a move that helps SpringSource continue to expand the breadth of its Java development offerings. Already a leader in enterprise Java with its Spring Framework, SpringSource with Hyperic gains a company proficient in an open-source model for Web applications and infrastructure management.
"SpringSource is taking responsibility for streamlining enterprise Java to fully cater to the needs of developers, IT administrators and operators who create, deploy and manage business-critical applications," said SpringSource CEO Rod Johnson in a statement. "The acquisition of Hyperic enables SpringSource to provide a complete, proven suite of lean application infrastructure software products that enable enterprises to accelerate the build, run, and manage application life cycle within the data center, virtual or cloud-computing environments."

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The two companies have been working together for several years, and SpringSource began OEM-ing Hyperic offerings in 2007.

"This is the marriage of two companies that share a common vision for the future of enterprise solutions and the application life cycle. SpringSource is the default choice for many developers and IT architects creating Java applications, and Hyperic is the default choice for many IT operations professionals that need to manage those applications," said former Hyperic CEO Javier Soltero in a statement.

Soltero on Monday was named CTO of Management Products at SpringSource.

"Managing Enterprise Java requires visibility up and down the stack and across a company's network and data center, including virtualization and cloud-computing environments. The divide that separates development from IT operations has just become a lot smaller," he said.

The Hyperic acquisition is the latest in a series of profile-building moves by SpringSource in an effort to continue the company's push into the enterprise.

In late April, SpringSource began offering commercial support for Apache Tomcat, and in mid-march, SpringSource released SpringSource Tool Suite 2.0, an updated tool suite for developers building Java applications on SpringSource platforms. Earlier this year, SpringSource announced plans to develop two virtual appliances with VMware.

Monday, March 30, 2009

Competitors: IBM-Sun Would Be Good for Java

In the beginning (1995), Java was created by Sun Microsystems. Then Sun saw that Java was bigger than just Sun (NASDAQ: JAVA) and opened up the process of building Java with the Java Community Process (JCP) in 1998. Yet now with rumors of IBM acquiring Sun swirling, the Java community could undergo its most significant change in a decade.

There have been questions about Sun's leadership of the JCP for years dating back to at least 2002 and percolating still with the soon to be finalized JavaEE 6 specification as well. With IBM (NYSE: IBM) owning Sun, leadership of the JCP could shift and that would be a change welcomed by members of the executive committee of the JCP as well as Java stakeholders outside of the JCP.

"Sun's inability to invest in the JCP combined with its desire to maintain control is stifling the innovation and investment in Java," Rich Sharples, director of product management at JBoss, told InternetNews.com.

Red Hat is a member of the JCP Executive Committee which oversees the JCP. Sharples notes that what drives many of Red Hat's contributions is the desire to make Java simpler to use for more people while retaining the power of the platform. JBoss contributions to the JCP include EJB 3 (nterprise java beans), Web Beans, Seam Framework and Hibernate.

Intel CEO Confirms IBM-Sun Acquisition Talks

A week ago, we reported that IBM was in acquisition talks with Sun. Sun has been in trouble for a while now, and has been shopping around the Valley for a potential buyers for the company. This report came from "people familiar with the matter", but it seems that we now have a confirmation from none other than Intel's CEO, Paul Otellini.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Sun targets Flash, brings JavaFX to mobile devices

Sun is bringing its JavaFX development framework to mobile devices. The latest release of the JavaFX SDK, version 1.1, offers full support for mobile JavaFX development and includes an emulator for testing mobile device compatibility. The move could help Java retain its relevance on handhelds as rival Adobe works to boost the popularity of Flash and AIR for mobile development.

JavaFX, which was first announced in 2007 and rolled out to the public in December 2008, is a framework for building rich Internet applications on top of Java. It includes a scene graph library and a unique scripting language that provides a declarative syntax for constructing sophisticated graphical user interfaces. Its graphics capabilities include support for animation, visual effects, gradients, and translucency.

JavaFX content integrates well with existing Java code, which means that developers can use it to bring better user interfaces to legacy Java applications and to build new Java software that can rival Flash programs in rich interactivity. JavaFX Mobile is designed to run on devices that support Java ME. A number of carriers and handset makers—including Orange, Sprint, Sony Ericsson, and LG—have already committed to bundling it on upcoming products.

"By delivering JavaFX Mobile on top of the wireless Java platform, Sun is now bringing expressiveness to the most pervasive and powerful platform in the mobile industry," said Sun client software group VP Jeet Kaul in a statement. "We are thrilled with the excitement and interest we're seeing for JavaFX from many of the world's top handset manufacturers, service providers and ISVs, which will help us bring this new technology to market and to the world very quickly."

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Sun Acquires A Cloud Management Company, Takes Aim At IBM (JAVA)

Sun (JAVA) is heralding its acquisition of Belgian cloud computing company Q-layer, "a cloud computing company that automates the deployment and management of both public and private clouds."

Put EC2 or Azure out of your mind. "Cloud computing" is one of the most abused terms in tech, and (as Larry Ellison hilariously noted) can be twisted to mean almost anything.

Sun's latest move beefs up its "virtualization" offerings: the ability for enterprises to use a small cluster of servers (sometimes called a "private cloud") to share resources and emulate the functions of having many more computers

Monday, January 5, 2009

EMC adding open sauce to Decho mix

Storage giant EMC is rumoured to have bought SourceLabs, a Seattle-based open source startup with nifty software technology for identifying developer problems and finding answers, for its Decho 'digital echo' business unit.

Decho was formed late last year by combining EMC's Mozy online backup product and Seattle-based Pi, the Paul Maritz personal information startup, to provide technology for businesses and consumers using cloud storage and information handling services. When Maritz was selected by EMC boss Joe Tucci to run VMware a new CEO was recruited for Decho, Harel Kodesh, like Maritz an ex-Microsoft executive. He is also president of EMC's cloud infrastructure business which includes the Atmos cloud storage product.

Trying to find a match between SourceLabs products and services and Decho's is tricky. Byron Sebastian, an ex-BEA executive, started SourceLabs, and the company's purpose is to help "Linux and Open Source developers and administrators make the most of their Linux and Open Source software by developing products and services to help better support and manage Open Source software." How does that fit into cloud computing?

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Vizio's 'Java' LCD brews accurate colors

Subtle dark brown coloring and a not-so-subtle reflective gold strip along the bottom of the frame earn the Vizio VOJ370F the title "Java" in the company's LCD lineup, while excellent color earns it a high score among the less-expensive LCDs we've reviewed this year.

The 37-inch display boasts 1080p resolution--useless at this small screen size unless you want to use it as a big PC monitor--and plenty of picture adjustments. The most important are custom color temperature controls that let us tweak it to within an inch of grayscale perfection--no small feat for a small-screened LCD.

Want the full scoop, ground fine enough for espresso?

Read the full review of the Vizio VOJ370F

Below you'll find the settings we found best for viewing the Vizio VOJ370F in a completely dark room via the HDMI input with a 1080p, film-based source. Your settings may very depending on source, room conditions and personal preference. Check out the Picture settings and calibration FAQ for more information.

Picture menu
Picture Mode: Movie
Backlight: 4
Brightness: 52
Contrast: 50
Color: 48
Tint: 0
Sharpness: 3


Advanced video menu
Noise Reduction: Off
Color Enhancement: Off
Advanced Adaptive Luma: Off
Enhanced Contrast Ratio: Off