Java rings changes on high street

Java high-street offensive receives cool reception from retailers and analysts

Java is making inroads into the retail sector following the publication of a draft retail API standard and the launch of enhanced POS systems, writes Gavin Clarke.

The API, called JavaPOS, will be embedded in cash tills to provide cross-platform support for peripherals such as scanners and printers.

The draft JavaPOS API, due for ratification in June, has been drawn up by a group of US retailers working in conjunction with Sun, IBM, NCR and UK software vendor DataFit.

NCR is poised to embed the API into the next release of its POS terminals in the middle of this year.

Meanwhile, DataFit has launched a fully featured version of BeanStore, its Java-based POS application which now supports foreign currencies.

These latest moves come as UK retailers such as Marks & Spencer, rush to embrace Windows NT and off-the-shelf applications, moving away from the proprietary tag of existing POS systems.

Some UK retailers and analysts have cast doubt on the suitability of using Java-based applications in the retail environment. Littlewoods said retailers will have to beef up their networks to ensure resilience if they use Java on POS systems.

Systems architecture manager at Littlewoods, Derek Rowe, said: ?You still have to take Java with a pinch of salt. Microsoft?s Windows NT is easier to use and configure. That is probably the direction we will go in,? he said.

Meta Group senior research analyst Ashim Pal is equally sceptical. He said Java would be unable to provide the real-time access to information that is necessary in the retail environment.

Pal added that Java will require a layer of middleware to be integrated into an application in order to support transaction processing, which would in turn complicate overall systems? architecture.

?I don?t see Java being deployed very quickly into large retail firms. But big companies like NCR need to be associated with technologies like Java. I wouldn?t treat this as anything more than a concept demonstration,? he said.