The Java Community Process(SM) Program - Press & Success

Use of JCP site is subject to the JCP Terms of Use and the Oracle Privacy Policy

Back to Community Focus Main Page

Profiles of JCP EC Representatives

	Michael Bechauf
	Josh Bloch
	Wayne Carr
	Danny Coward
	Don Deutsch
	Scott Jameson
	Jens Jensen
	Rod Johnson
	Werner Keil
	Sacha Labourey
	Doug Lea
	Geir Magnusson
	Mike Milinkovich
	Bryn Rahm
	Makiko Shimamura
	Mark Thomas

The job of an Executive Committee (EC) representative is a serious commitment. The time required is extensive, and includes reading of specifications, Reference Implementations (RIs), and Technology Compatibility Kits (TCKs), as well as regular attendance at EC meetings and teleconferences to discuss and vote on various technical and process topics. Besides voting on Java Specification Requests (JSRs) at various stages, the EC guides the Program Management Office (PMO) in the evolution of the Java Community Process (JCP) program. EC decisions can have significant, long-term consequences to not only the community, but also in the industry and the market. Still, plenty of JCP participants relish the task of representing a corporation, non-profit, open source group, or themselves.

Guenter Klas

Guenter Klas is the primary representative for Vodafone on the ME EC. As of June 2006, the company served about 187 million proportionate* customers worldwide. Vodafone is the world's largest international mobile telecommunications group, holding equity interests in 27 countries across five continents and with partner networks in 33 additional countries.

As the senior manager of the Industry Initiatives team for Vodafone Group Services Ltd in the UK, Guenter leads the terminal standardization program and coordinates the company's efforts on this, overseeing Vodafone's engagement in Java standardization through the following efforts:
JSR 209 Advanced Graphics and User Interface Optional Package for the J2ME Platform
JSR 248 Mobile Service Architecture (MSA)
JSR 249 MSA Advanced

JSR 248 received substantial acclaim in 2006. Spec Lead Mark Duesner of Vodafone and Star Spec Lead Asko Komsi of Nokia won the JCP program's Outstanding Java ME Spec Lead Award for their joint work on it. The JCP community also nominated JSR 248 for the Most Innovative Java ME JSR Award.

Guenter is also involved in Vodafone's participation in the World-Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and its Mobile Web Initiative (MWI), the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA), Open Mobile Terminal Platform (OMTP), Liberty Alliance, Near Field Communication (NFC) Forum, mobile Top Level Domain (mTLD) registry company, and the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA). His projects are related to Mobile Contactless Application - Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, Identity Management, Mobile Internet, Device Management, Payment, SIM card evolution and security. In previous years, he held management positions in Vodafone UK for System Design, and with Siemens Mobile Communications for Product Management and System Engineering.

Having graduated with a master's in Electrical Engineering from Technical University of Vienna, Austria, Guenter then received a PhD in Computer Science from Technical University of Munich, Germany. His first encounter with Java technology happened many years back when he was working on the manufacturer's side of the telecom industry, primarily as a system engineer and architect. Today Guenter's interest in the JCP program lies in contributing to a consistent evolution of Java standards and APIs for implementation in the mobile and converged telecoms industry.

Guenter expects to contribute to the JCP program's success, the high quality of specifications, and to any efforts in improving governance, processes, and effectiveness. He hopes to elicit more feedback from the Java community. He has questions, lots of questions to challenge the industry: "How can we increase the level of success of Java applications in the mobile industry? For this, which are the real hurdles, and how can we overcome them? Are we flexible enough in the JCP to meet market demands? How can Java technology beneficially evolve in the face of new, emerging, and partly competing technologies, such as from the Web area, in the context of mobile communications and the Mobile Internet?"

"The JCP program has been hugely instrumental in enabling further progress in Java-related technology and related standardization," Guenter says. "The JCP program works differently from other organizations. We need to build on the strengths and see where in the JCP program and EC, for example, we can make improvements, taking into account and adapting to the feedback we get from the market. The JCP and EC play an important role in enabling the Java eco-system and thus in contributing to the success of Java technology."

*Vodafone has invested in other operators, so customer figures are calculated on a proportionate basis in accordance with the company's percentage interest in those ventures.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .