Intel General Session Promises to Rock Java Technology

Intel Corporation is best known as the world's largest semiconductor company. But it also has a lengthy history of involvement with, and support of, Java technology. In Wednesday's general session, 5:30 to 6:15 p.m., Renee James, corporate vice president of software at Intel Corporation, will discuss Intel's empowerment of the Java platform for over a decade -- as both a hardware provider and a software partner. James will outline the company's recent broad strategic alliance with Sun Microsystems, describe Intel's vision for next-generation enterprise platforms, and detail how Java technology developers can take their applications to new heights.

Some might be surprised to learn that Intel maintains an extensive software development presence. James is responsible for Intel's software strategy, products, and services, with research and development operations in more than 20 countries. "We are working with many of the world's major software companies to make sure they take full advantage of the features and performance of our hardware," said James. And we also write custom software that ships exclusively with Intel platforms."

Intel's association with Java technology goes back almost to the beginning. "We've been working with Java technology since 1995" says Tony Baker, director of managed runtime technology at Intel Corporation. "We did early work in terms of optimization support on Sun's first implementations of the Java platform. And we worked on the first media specification that went into the Java platform -- and co-authored it with Sun and SGI. That work predates the Java Community Process program, but we've been a member of the JCP since 2002 and on the executive committee since 2003."

The company's involvement in the software aspects of the Java platform continues into the present -- and the future. "We've participated in over a dozen specs, including Java ME," notes Baker. "Sun's code that was shipped for Java ME was tuned with the help of Intel. And we worked on Java SE 6, and the upcoming Java SE 7 specification. We've also worked closely with others in the industry on their own Java platform implementations, including BEA and IBM. So even though we may not be known in terms of boxed software applications, if you look behind the scenes, we've been a major player in expanding and improving Java technology."

Intel also has a rich association with the open-source community. The company works with all layers of the open-source ecosystem to bring dependable solutions to market -- including drivers, operating systems, and applications. "We're extremely active in the Linux community," says Baker, "and we also contribute to everything from Eclipse, to Apache Harmony, to Xen Hypervisor (for server virtualization)."

More recently, the company has been an active contributor to the OpenSolaris project. But on January 22, 2007, the association between Intel and the OpenSolaris project took a significant leap forward. Sun Microsystems and Intel Corporation established a broad strategic alliance to further one another's technology initiatives. As part of this alliance, Intel agreed to work with Sun to optimize both the Solaris Operating System and the Java platform for the Intel Xeon processor. Intel will embrace Sun's Solaris OS, the Java platform, and Sun's NetBeans IDE product. Further, Intel will actively support the OpenSolaris and emerging OpenJDK communities from which these technologies continue to evolve. Meanwhile, Sun committed to deliver a comprehensive family of enterprise and telecommunications servers and workstations based on Intel Xeon processors.

The alliance between Intel and Sun quickly proved to be a fruitful relationship. "The ink dried on the paper in January, and the work began in the first part of February," says Baker. "The collaboration between Intel and Sun is very close. We share code, we share joint modifications, and we share improvements. Intel brings an intimate knowledge of the processors, and Sun brings its knowledge of Solaris software and Java technology. We've focused on making Java software run as fast as possible and on allowing the Solaris OS to take maximum advantage of the advanced features of the Intel Xeon processor."

Solaris is the fourth major OS added to the company's support roster. But each OS presents its own unique challenges and opportunities. "In addition to the hardware that executes code, we have some great value-added technologies in Intel Xeon platforms," says David C. Stewart, senior engineering manager for Intel Corporation. "Examples of that are virtualization technology, power management features such as Demand Based Switching (which syncs nicely with what Sun is trying to deliver with power-friendly servers), and then the acceleration technologies we're working on such as I/O Acceleration Technology. These are some of the key areas we're working to optimize -- to make Intel Xeon processor-based platforms the best choice for running Solaris."

Rich Green, executive vice president for software at Sun Microsystems, will join James onstage during her presentation to highlight the fruits of the association between the two companies -- from optimizing the Solaris OS and the Java Virtual Machine (JVM),* to Sun's upcoming Intel Xeon-based servers. Guy Churchward, vice president of WebLogic products at BEA Systems, will also join the presentation to talk about the performance numbers they've been able to achieve by working closely with Intel on their JVM.

At the end of the day, Intel simply strives to enable each of its customers to best meet its specific technology needs. "We believe that we have the best platforms out there," says James. "So ensuring that developer and ISV code runs its very best on those platforms is paramount for us. Different customers have different needs. At Intel, we want to make sure those needs are met and to offer our customers the best choices possible."