Today, we are announcing Gluon, a company delivering services and products for creating end-to-end Java client Applications. Gluon fits very well in the Java client ecosystem, as it extends the JavaFX platform and the related open source projects with enterprise functionality and commercial support.
The JavaFX Platform, especially the JavaFX 8u40 release that is part of the Java SE 8u40 platform, provides an excellent base for creating compelling client applications with enterprise functionality. There are a number of initiatives in the JavaFX Community that complement the work Oracle is doing on JavaFX, and these combined allow for more functionality, easier deployments and more supported platforms.
The founders of Gluon and the people behind the scenes have a strong track record in a number of those JavaFX-based open source projects. Many individuals and companies already benefited from those projects.
With Gluon, we are taking it even more serious. Our commitment to open source initiatives (e.g. DataFX, ControlsFX, JavaFXPorts) is going to increase, and we also provide commercial products and services. Our focus is to help developers creating Java client applications, and therefore we aim to make it easy for developers to use Gluon products. Being developers ourselves, we realize the crucial role of this group in the whole software chain. We also want to assure companies and customers that we are committed to the work we are doing. We have a number of products, which we will gradually release. We do provide support for these products, including samples, tutorials and consulting services.
At this moment, we announce the Gluon company, our consulting and training services, and we give a sneak preview on the products that we will roll out in the near future. We have been working very hard on those products over the last couple of months, and we can hardly wait to show them.
Creating JavaFX Client applications, especially on mobile, requires a number of things:
- Top-class UI controls, that integrate with the native look and feel.
- Easy bridges to Enterprise functionality (e.g. data persistence and synchronization)
- Tools
We provide solutions for these requirements. The Gluon Mobile library contains Glisten, which is a lightweight application framework and a set of mobile controls that make your application shine. Using Glisten, your end-users won’t notice the difference between your JavaFX Application and Applications created with native environments (e.g. iOS, Android). You will see the difference though, as there is only one codebase, with 100% reusability between the different environments — which is way easier and cheaper to maintain.
The Gluon Cloud frees the developer from lots of boilerplate code used to persist and synchronize data. The Gluon Cloud can store your data in a secure, isolated and failsafe way, and it can synchronize state between different devices using your application. Also, we provide a very easy and integrated way for your users to authenticate themselves using their existing social network credentials (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Google+).
We are providing downloads for a number of tools. Some of them are related to Gluon, or contain Gluon-specific additions, while others are not. As we said, we want to increase the number of Java developers writing real-world client applications, and tools are very important in achieving this goal.
In summary, Gluon is the company that can help you with creating and supporting real-world, enterprise-grade Java Client applications which run on desktop, laptop, mobile and embedded. We’re excited to spread this news, and we are looking forward to your feedback.