HP achieves fastest Java performance

NEW DELHI: Hewlett-Packard Company has announced the performance results of SPEC JVM98 on commercially available products for Java applications on its HP 9000 N-Class server and J-Class workstation. Additionally, HP is delivering 3-D technology for Java and a new Java browser plug-in on the HP-UX platform.

According to a release, the two-way, 440MHz N-Class server with 1,024MB RAM scored a SPEC JVM98 result of 49.1. The two-way, 440MHz J-Class J5000 workstation, also with 1,024MB RAM scored 53.5. The SPEC JVM98 benchmark measures the speed and efficiency of a Java Virtual Machine (JVM).

These results demonstrate that HP's solution for these Java platforms, on either a server or workstation, performs better than comparable machines running a UNIX operating system. HP also announced two new features for Java on HP-UX, Java3D. The HP 3-D technology for the Java platform is a HP-UX implementation of Java3D technology that enables development and deployment of 3-D applications on HP's line of technical workstations. Java3D is a scene-graph-based 3-D Application Programming Interface (API) that allows the user to develop complex 3-D applications with high-performance and functionality while maintaining the "write once, run anywhere" freedom of Java. As Java3D is platform-independent, the user can develop 3-D applications, such as Mechanical Design Automation (MDA) and scientific visualization tools that run across a wide range of 3-D hardware.

The HP browser plug-in for Java is the first Java 1.2.2 plug-in available for browsers running in an HP-UX environment. This plug-in provides browser users with the latest functionality available for Java applications and applets for HP-UX. HP is the first Java licensee to ship JVM 1.2.2 and the HotSpot technology, a run-time environment that significantly enhances Java's performance by dynamically optimizing the portions of Java code that run most frequently.