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Communications Week

October 7, 1996
Issue: 632
Section: Top Of The News

Corporate America Gets a New Front End

By Paul Kapustka

The simple Web browser, which experienced the most rapid end-user software deployment ever, is fast becoming the interface corporate developers target for their custom applications.

Corporate developers say the cross-platform support and intuitive ease of browser interfaces, as well as lower implementation costs, more rapid application deployment and simplified administration are all reasons to move quickly beyond simple Web pages to build mission-critical, line-of-business applications with browser front ends.

"A year ago, I didn't imagine the browser would be a development platform, but it is now," said Kevin Hamilton, online information manager at the Alameda Newspaper Group in Hayward, Calif. "It's making legacy environments take more and more of a back seat."

Although it's too soon to tell if Web applications-especially those using Sun Microsystems' Java programming technology-will replace other development platforms, even Microsoft has realized the lure of applications with browser front ends.

In fact, the next release of Microsoft's Windows 95 operating system will feature a built-in browser interface that can be used in place of the standard Windows desktop to access local and remote resources. Microsoft also released control of its ActiveX technology last week to a standards group, in the hope of accelerating its adoption.

Although most of the users interviewed said Web apps would co-exist with Windows applications, it was also clear that the standards-based combination of Sun's Java and Netscape Communications' Navigator browser technology is driving most of the current Web application efforts. Java, in particular, is attractive to Web developers for its ability to support entire applications, not just static HTML pages.

Making the Move

It is apparent that corporate IS departments are quickly moving to intranets and Web-based applications. In a recent survey of 500 medium-to-large corporate sites, 63 percent of respondents said their business plans to implement an intranet, with 42 percent saying deployment of the intranet is scheduled to begin within the next six months.

Database access, document distribution and communication with business partners were listed as the three top reasons for implementing an intranet (see chart)

Additional users corroborated the survey findings. Perhaps one of the best-known Web-based applications is the package-tracing function on the Federal Express Home Page, which lets users follow deliveries as they move through FedEx's system.

Winn Stephenson, vice president of network computing at Federal Express, said the cross-platform capabilities of Java and browsers has turned Web application development into a huge focus for FedEx.

"Our customers are the most heterogeneous group imaginable," said Stephenson, who detailed his company's operations at the recent Intranet and Internet Industry Conference in San Jose, Calif., hosted by Zona Research Inc., which highlighted users' implementations of intranet and Internet technologies.

"What excites me about Web applications is that they are cross-platform," Stephenson said. "For us to be able to write an app once and have it run everywhere is a Holy Grail type of thing."

Clive Castle, a London-based application architect for the Union Bank of Switzerland Ltd., said that communication and penetration into a client's organization is one of the most important factors driving his company's implementation of Web applications. By using Java, Union Bank can provide applications that run on any type of platform-a key advantage, because its customers use a wide range of computing hardware.

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