Sun and SGI tie-up for graphics

CALIFORNIA: OpenGL and Java will work seamlessly together. SGI and Sun Microsystems today jointly announced an agreement to cooperate on developing Java bindings to the OpenGL application-programming interface (API).

OpenGL is a, cross-platform graphics API, and the only major API with support for virtually all operating systems. SGI is working with Sun to enable millions of Java users to easily use OpenGL for their graphics needs. The development of Java bindings will also benefit OpenGL application developers, because they will be able to write applications in a cross-platform environment.

"Working with Sun to enable OpenGL graphics application developers to use Java creates an excellent opportunity for both developers and consumers," said Shawn Underwood, director of marketing, Visual Computing Systems, SGI. "We will have two cross-platform standards operating together: Java and OpenGL. This effort will enable tens of thousands of developers, who write graphics applications, to gain the many benefits of the Java technology."

"Java and OpenGL together will make a powerful win-win combination for graphics developers everywhere," said John Fowler, chief technology officer, Software, Sun Microsystems, Inc. "The power of OpenGL and the wide deployment of Java means graphics developers will now bring together the best of two worlds: Java and graphics."

The development of these bindings will involve submissions to the Java Community Process (JCP) and the OpenGL Architecture Review Board (ARB). The JCP is an open organization of international developers and licensees whose charter is to develop and revise Java technology specifications, reference implementations and technology compatibility kits. The ARB is an industry-wide organization that governs the evolution and ongoing development of OpenGL, a technology originally created by SGI, as an open, platform-independent standard for professional-quality 3D graphics.