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Pour some Java into your kiosk

April 13, 2005

If you had an employee that you had to discipline once a month, you'd probably fire him or her. But what about your kiosk program that crashes that often? The same advice holds: Fire it.

Then, "hire" kiosk software built on a platform that won't let you down.

Java kiosks are self-service devices based on the Java programming language and runtime environment, an ideal language for kiosks because it eliminates the type of programming errors that are responsible for nearly 90 percent all fatal bugs in software: stray memory pointers (think: blue screen of death) and memory leaks (think: computer runs slow then freezes).

This story and all the great free content on Kiosk Marketplace is supported by: Apunix

The Java language was initially written in the early 1990s by Sun Microsystems as a development language and environment for use on set-top boxes, which are essentially kiosk appliances for watching TV. In the same way people don't want to reboot or power cycle their set-top box, retailers don't want to constantly reboot misbehaving kiosks.

Java solves that problem by removing pointers from the language and implementing a robust and secure runtime environment that automatically collects unused memory.

Adopting Java

Because of its intentionally error-reducing code, San Diego, Calif.-based Apunix Computer Services, a kiosk software developer, chose the Java language and its runtime environment as the underlying basis for its Kiosk Engine for Java.

According to Dr. Peter Berens, chief software architect at Apunix, "Using Java allowed us to create the initial version of our multimedia kiosk engine in record time and hit the field with a high-profile deployment for Super Bowl 1998 that ran without flaws from day one."

Perfect Order, Inc., a Mechanicsburg, Pa.-based company worked with Apunix to develop an assisted-selling solution to serve its big-box retail customers. Paul Hamilton, a retail specialist with the company, said, "Java also allows Apunix the freedom to create more graphically rich, peripheral rich and stateful interfaces free of the constraints of a Web browser's HTML heritage."

Key to many of Perfect Order's deployments is the capability to fill in data entry screens with the swipe of a credit card or state-issued driver's license. Hamilton added, "Another key feature of Apunix's solution is its rapid application development content development tool written in Java. This allows us not only the ability to add input from peripherals with a point-and-click approach, but with a point and a click add connectivity to virtually any back-end data source, including our in-store sales automation Web portal."

Because it was written in Java, Apunix's RAD tool runs on any platform - from Linux to Windows to MacOS - without modification.

"Our use of Java also allows us to be scalable. Our kiosk engine runs on all hardware ranging from handhelds to servers," said Dr. Sylvia Berens, Apunix vice president.