Last week a new version of the JXTA edge protocols was open sourced at the "Java Mobile and Embedded Developer Days".  Up until recently the JXTA protocols have been implemented under JavaSE, C, JavaME CDC profile, and proxy version under CLDC.  The JXTA ME/CLDC proxy version had been pretty limited in the functionality it provided under CLDC, due to that fact that relied on a proxy for it's participation within a network, however, now with the new addition of the protocols, it is now possible for a MIDP 2.0 compliant device to participate in a JXTA network as first class device. 

A mobile device is now able to:

• Describe and publish advertisements about phone resources
• Discover network resources
• Establish direct and virtual multicast connections to other nodes
• Use portable JxtaSocket, JxtaMulticastSocket (sub-class of java.net.Socket and MutlicastSocket respectively)
  
• Use a datagram like asynchronous bidirectional JxtaBiDiPipe

• Join or create a virtual private domain

 

In the past few years mobile devices have advanced in their multi-media and networking capabilities, however the usefulness of such features has been very limited, due to access difficulty of content or the need for multiple services.  In most cases a user must transfer content to/from the mobile device through wired or Bluetooth connection, or rely a central point of exchange, making it cumbersome for seamless content/data access.  

With the availability of the JXTA platform on such devices, it is now possible for a user to create and define members of a virtual private domain, where discovery and full connectivity is possible within the domain.  Thus enabling seamless cross internet data access and synchronization (imagine photo album, calendars, and contacts), and connectivity (imagine multi-media streaming between home (desktop/TV), office, and mobile device).  This functionality was demoed at the "Java Mobile and Embedded Developer Days", whereby a desktop and mobile device seamless shared photos, the mobile device discovering a printer within the domain, and remotely printing one of the photos. If you missed the conference or the web-cast, you can access the slides from here.

The sources have been opened under http://jxta-jxme.dev.java.net (under midp2), under the JXTA license. We encourage community participation in testing and writing applications which take advantage of seamless discovery and connectivity in creating useful applications for mobile devices.