For additional information: Patrick Corman
Patrick Corman Marketing & Comm.
(415) 326-9648
Corman@cerfnet.comJoe Shelton
POET Software Corp.
(415) 286-4640
joes@poet.comFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
POET FIRST TO OFFER JAVA DEVELOPERS STANDARD INTERFACE TO FULL-FEATURED OBJECT DATABASE
ODMG Java Tight Binding Added to Advanced POET Universal Object Server
Only Database to Achieve Completely Transparent Java, C++ Object InterchangeSAN MATEO, Calif., February 18, 1997 -- POET Software today announced it is delivering a pre-release version of its 100-percent ODMG-compliant Java"TM tight binding, making POET the only full-featured object database to offer Java developers this industry-standard interface. The addition of the ODMG Java tight binding makes POET's Universal Object Server the only object database offering direct, transparent access to all objects from either Java or C++ applications.
POET's Java solution goes well beyond non-scalable, single-user, persistent object storage to give developers access to the full power of the POET Universal Object Server's advanced functionality for their large-scale Java applications, including multiple database transactions, multi-user access, queries, replication and publish/subscribe. The POET Universal Object Server family now provides C++ and Java SDKs, allowing developers to write applications that exchange C++ and Java objects completely transparently. In the next version, POET will enable Java and C++ applications to access data from relational databases, an important consideration for any organization with large volumes of legacy data.
"A number of database vendors are claiming to offer a Java interface and language interoperability, but only POET is actually delivering a full-featured object database with ODMG Java tight binding and transparent interoperability to its customers," said Dirk Bartels, president and CEO of POET Software. "POET gives developers the fastest, easiest path for migrating from C++ to Java applications, and also supports Visual Basic applications and ActiveX controls."
"We are pleased to have POET's object database technology supporting Java," said Rick Cattell, distinguished engineer at JavaSoft. "Java has become the key to the rapid development and deployment of a new generation of applications on the Internet. Now, with Java support, we expect that POET's Universal Object Server will become an important component of this trend."
"POET's Java software development kit is a significant addition to POET's Universal Object Server suite," said Denice Gibson, senior vice president of Novell, Inc. "POET's new Java SDK provides us with a broad range of options for delivering enhanced value in our upcoming releases of various Novell products. One of the areas we will be using POET technology is to improve the installation of Novell products."
POET Java 1.0
POET Java 1.0 is the first implementation of the Java tight binding as defined by the work-in-progress draft of Chapter 7 of the ODMG Release 2.0 standard. POET is a voting member of the Object Database Management Group, and has been actively involved in defining this standard. POET's Java tight binding creates a single, unified object-type system shared by the Java language and the POET object database. The programmer perceives the binding as an extension to the development language. The syntax used to create, delete, identify, reference get/set field values and invoke methods on a persistent object is no different from that used for objects of shorter lifetimes, allowing a single expression to freely intermix references to persistent and transient objects.The full functionality of the Object Query Language (OQL) is available through the POET Java tight binding. This functionality can be used through query methods on class Collection or through queries using a standalone OQLQuery class.
Persistence is achieved by reachability as defined in the ODMG standard. All objects reachable from database root objects are retrieved from or stored to the database, and objects no longer referenced are removed from the database automatically.
POET Java 1.0 takes full advantage of POET's advanced server functionality, including automatic schema evolution; direct, transparent access to C++ objects; binary large objects and streaming; object-level granularity; and explicit object locking. Further, POET Java 1.0 can use the local POET database engine to store Java objects in a local POET database that can be accessed and used by any other POET application or copied to a different machine running a different operating system. The physical database is 100-percent binary compatible across all platforms and programming languages. The POET Java SDK contains, in addition to POET Java 1.0, POET's Java generic "loose" language binding that is indispensable for developing generic database applications in Java, like a Web browser, that must be able to access any POET database regardless of its underlying schema. It also allows writing interfaces to existing C++ applications without reimplementing these persistent classes in Java. As with all POET language bindings, the Java generic binding supports local storage and full client-server connectivity, and can be used as an ultra-thin pure Java client in conjunction with an intermediate object request broker.
POET Java Strategy
The Java language has burst upon the scene with remarkable speed, and some estimates put the number of Java developers at more than 300,000. According to a 1996 report by Forrester Research, 62 percent of companies with active Internet initiatives in the Fortune 1,000 are already using Java, and 42 percent are convinced that Java will be key to their Internet computing strategy within the year. Java fixes many of the major shortcomings of C++ memory management, pointers, built-in multithreading and standardized class libraries among others -- and is the first object-oriented programming language to offer truly hardware-independent programming.POET believes that Java is a tremendous advance in object oriented programming, and is embarking on an evolutionary approach to providing Java support for the POET Universal Object Server, one that will parallel the evolution of Java as it becomes a more mature language.
The first release of the POET Java tight binding contains a Java client and relies on the tested and proven fourth-generation POET kernel written in C++ for the local client database engine. The POET ODBMS is available for all major platforms, including all flavors of Windows, Macintosh, OS/2, Novell NetWare, Sun Solaris, HP-UX, SGI Irix, SCO UNIX and IBM AIX. POET feels this combination today offers the best solution for reliable, high-performance storage of persistent objects while supporting Java's platform independence.
Targeted for the end of 1997, POET will introduce a pure Java client supporting full connectivity to any POET database server without the need for the POET C++ kernel on the client. Client applications will be able to be downloaded and run on any platform that supports Java, opening the door to a wide range of sophisticated Internet/intranet applications requiring powerful database access. In addition, POET will offer an "ultra-thin" client that uses an intermediate object request broker in a three-tier architecture for access to a POET server, enabling the use of persistent objects in Java applets with minimum memory requirements and greatly reduced download times.
As the Java language matures, POET will implement a remote Java client database engine that will allow developers to write pure Java applications using local storage to keep objects stored on the client side. This can be used for data replication, check-in/check-out of objects or for storing client data like user information and configuration data. Massive data storage can still be achieved from the POET Universal Object Server through the pure Java client implementation.
In addition to language binding and local storage, POET will use the advantages of Java in the POET server itself. The hardware-independent nature of Java makes it a perfect fit for use as an execution environment in the database server, enabling active methods stored in the database to be executed on the server side. Because Java byte code is totally machine independent, these methods can be executed on every platform supporting a Java virtual machine.
"Using this capability, a Java developer will be able to implement an entire application based on persistent objects stored in the database, and will gain powerful features such as dynamic execution partitioning, computed data as parameters for queries, writing constraints and implementing business objects containing not only state but also semantics," said Bartels. "An application will need to load only one root object from the database into memory and execute its main method. The code is stored in the database, and can be executed either on the client or server side."
Pricing and Availability
The POET Java Software Development Kit, available today for $499, contains a beta release of the POET Java 1.0 ODMG-compliant tight binding, and the 1.0 release of the POET Java generic binding. The full product release will be available in June for $499. An evaluation version is free and available now for download.About POET Software
POET Software Corporation provides developers a flexible ODBMS solution optimized for managing complexity in today's object-rich desktop, groupware and Internet environments. POET's product family is architected to integrate with leading development tools and languages, scales from desktop to enterprise server platforms, and supports all major industry standards and operating systems. POET's award-winning technology is used by developers in leading companies in the U.S. and Europe. The company is based in San Mateo, Calif.All product and brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective corporations.
