Sun Microsystems is using the Finexpo Retail Financial Technology conference to promote the launch of the Java Payments Network, a collaborative forum for banks and vendors to share information, explore new technology developments and promote new standards initiatives in the payments business.
Billed as "an open federation of technology users and vendors", the founder members of the Java Payments Network are Sun Microsystems, Cambista, Computacenter and the Concise Group.
The objective of the Network is to provide a channel and regular forum for end-user customer input to product development, says Sun. The aim is to create new Java-based payment systems for the financial services industry and to work to improve interoperability, performance and reliability.
Pieter Heyn, manager of Sun's global payments business unit says: "Sun Microsystems is an enthusiastic supporter of this alliance which brings together both vendor and end-user expertise in the rapidly expanding Java payments solution arena."
The JPN advocates the use of a single generic payments architecture based on J2EE that controls all payments flows within an organisation.
The idea is to provide a flexible, future-proofed network capable of reacting to changing trends, says Heyn. "This is most important when uncertainties exist over future payments business strategies such as insourcing, outsourcing and white-labelling."