UNDERLYING PLATFORM OF THE E-COMMERCE SYSTEM: J2EE VS. NET Hamid Jahankhani, Mohammed Youssef University of East London, School of Computing and Technology, Longbride Road, Dagenham, Essex RM8 2AS Keywords: Microsoft.NET, Web Services, J2EE, E-business solutions, Syspro, ERP, SME. Abstract: when considering the implementation of any new Web-based application these days, the main two options available to developers are to either base the application on Sun Microsystems’ J2EE (Java 2 Enterprise Edition) platform, or on Microsoft’s .NET platform. Although other platforms do exist, the IT industry has identified these two as the main choices. .NET initiative is a broad new vision for embracing the Internet and the Web in the development, engineering and use of software. One key aspect of the .NET s strategy is its independence from a specific language or platform. This paper is about the strategic decision making that any Small and Medium size Enterprises (SME) should make to adopt a technology platform for a new project. This paper refers to an on ongoing development to provide an integrated business information and e-commerce system for a manufacturing company. The company uses Syspro ERP system. Consumers of ERP systems are demanding solutions that can be easily integrated with Web applications in order to provide such services as e-commerce to customers and browser-based access to remote workers. The aim of this paper is to compare the two technologies and discuss the main reasons why it is believed that .NET would be more appropriate than J2EE as a technology platform for the e-commerce solution. 1 INTRODUCTION The .NET platform offers powerful capabilities for software development and deploying independence from a specific language or platform. Rather than requiring developers to learn a programming language, programmers can contribute to the same software project, but write code using any or several of the .NET languages (such as Visual Basic .NET, Visual C++ .NET, C#, COBOL, Fortran and others) with which they are most experienced or skilled. In addition to providing language independence, .NET extends program portability by enabling .NET applications to reside on, and communicate across, multiple platforms thus facilitating the delivery of Web services over the Internet. .NET enables Web- based applications to be distributed to consumer electronic devices, such as mobile phones, Handheld PC’s and persona1 digital organizers, as well as to desktop computers. The capabilities that Microsoft has incorporated into the .NET platform created new software-development model that will increase programmer productivity and decrease development time (Deitel, 2002). .NET is also a set of standards, and an operating platform, to enable different applications and organisations to communicate over the Internet, using industry-agreed protocols such as Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP). .Net is a set of technologies for connecting information, people, systems and devices over the Internet through the use of XML Web services. In order to create an XML platform there are five key areas of deliverables, which are Clients, Servers, Services, Developer tools experiences and solution. Thus Microsoft adopted the use of XML Web services as one of the key components for its next generation Internet platform .NET, which addresses all of these areas in the .NET Framework. This paper reports on the ongoing development to provide an integrated business information and e- commerce system for a manufacturing company. The company uses Syspro (Formerly Impact Encore) ERP system. In this paper we will be comparing the features and properties of .NET with the J2EE. The reason why J2EE is chosen is because of the fact that it is one of the most widely accepted standards which is similar to the .NET with similar properties. In fact it is the JAVA that has given 250 Jahankhani H. and Youssef M. (2004). UNDERLYING PLATFORM OF THE E-COMMERCE SYSTEM: J2EE VS. NET. In Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems, pages 250-257 DOI: 10.5220/0002619302500257 Copyright c  SciTePress