Sun Microsystems Inc., the creator of Java technology, and INRIA, the French national institute for research in computer science and control, officially kicked-off the license agreement signed by the two parties for the certification of the compliance of JOnAS, an open-source Java application server developed by the ObjectWeb consortium, with the level 1.4 of Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE). The celebration took place in the Sun Customer Briefing Center, in Paris, France, on March 23rd, 2004. ObjectWeb is an international non-profit consortium specialized in open- source middleware, hosted by INRIA. JOnAS is ObjectWeb's implementation of the functionalities set forth in the J2EE specification. Since January 2004, ObjectWeb takes advantage of license terms for the J2EE 1.4 platform specification and compatibility test suite that Sun makes available for non- profit projects in the framework of a specific scholarship. Eric Mahe, Marketing Director for Java Development, Sun Microsystems, said: "This idea of bringing together the open-source community and what is today a major industrial trend, namely Java, was something we've pursued since the creation of Java technology." Gerard Giraudon, Director of Development and Technology Transfer, INRIA, explained: "In a world which becomes increasingly complex, the standards become increasingly important including in research projects. It is necessary to have open reference implementations of standards, which guarantee on the one hand effective interoperability and on the other hand equity between actors." Jean-Pierre Laisne, ObjectWeb's Chairman, said: "ObjectWeb members like Dassault Aviation will use our technology and make sure it meets their requirements, which is of major importance for the activity of the ecosystem." JOnAS to Become a J2EE 1.4 Platform of Choice for Global Companies Dominique Potier, Group Scientific Director Software Technologies, Thales Group (63,000 employees worldwide), explained: "We at Thales just defined Netframework, a new architecture for our information system in which JOnAS is the J2EE application server. JOnAS will be deployed on a limited number of sites this summer, and in all Thales in 2005. The certification is all the more important that it leaves open a possibility of replacement if necessary. The fact that several big companies make the same choice is an indirect factor of durability." Valere Robin, Senior Manager, France Telecom R&D, added: "For about 15 years, France Telecom R&D has been working on middleware. In August 2003, JOnAS has been officially introduced in the catalog of software solutions for France Telecom subsidiaries. The J2EE certification is a very interesting perspective for the IT management because it will facilitate migrations, it will permit to rationalize the management of J2EE skills and to capitalize on J2EE on the long term." France Telecom has a workforce of 240,000 on 5 continents. Franz Meyer, CEO, Red Hat France, explained: "Red Hat joined ObjectWeb to make the link between the consortium and the users and therefore increase the sustainability of JOnAS. Red Hat is developing an application server which will of course be based on JOnAS. Targeted to enterprise customers, it will be complemented with services, certifications and developer tools based on Eclipse."