McClure says Java is advantageous because it was specifically designed for use in distributed systems, which means it addresses such distributed-systems issues as security. Converting software to Java increases a product's marketability, McClure said. It allows the product to be purchased by users of Java-supporting platforms, immediately tapping a broader market. Visual's latest software is part of the company's new emphasis, network-centric computing. The idea is to put server components on large, centralized machines, said Don Kainer, vice president of Visual's North America sales.
Information is housed there but is accessible simultaneously by multiple users.
All changes made are updated automatically in the central machine. Kainer says this allows many users to interact with one another in regard to consistent data. But multiple users means multiple platforms. Clearly, that solves the problem of different platforms. Java beans, added to the Java equation about a year ago, revolutionized application programming.