Sun Microsystems this week is previewing the latest version of its J2EE server environment, the first release to include full, baked-in support for Web services protocol.
The preview is happening at its JavaOne Japan Developer Conference, and includes a first look at some of the Web services integration Sun has planned for J2EE 1.4.
Application server vendors are just beginning to roll out servers supporting the last J2EE release, 1.3, which despite its "dot" moniker included many significant upgrades. Users also are only beginning to move up to J2EE 1.3.
Despite the work involved in a major J2EE upgrade, enterprises are closely watching the latest move, particularly the tighter integration of Web services protocols into the J2EE platform.
J2EE 1.4 includes support for UDDI and ebXML registries, SOAP transactions, XML schemas, and processing and the Web Services Description Language (WSDL).