The JavaOne Conference was the stage for many Java premiers and launches. One of them was the Star Spec Leads program initiated by the JCP.

This program is the community's way of recognizing and celebrating those Spec Leads who had an exceptional contribution to the development of Java Specification Requests (JSR) and carried out their spec lead duties flawlessly. Specification leads, in widely adopted JCP jargon Spec Leads, are instrumental to the development and finalization of Java standards. Without them the proposed specifications wouldn't go beyond the idea stage.

Star spec leads in the definition of the Star Spec Leads program produce high-quality specifications, establish best practices, and mentor entry spec leads. The program endorses the good work that they do and showcases their methods for other spec leads to emulate.

It's no easy thing to become a Star Spec Lead. You need a proven track record of successful communication with the expert group and the PMO. You need to respond promptly to concerns the expert group, PMO, or the ECs may have; conduct expert group meetings effectively and share JSR comments on a regular basis; show leadership and inspire and motivate the expert group; demonstrate rigorous discipline by staying on schedule and delivering JSRs within expectations and conducting JSR business in an open, transparent manner.

The first ones to cut this ambitious profile were announced by the JCP at the launch of the program the first day of JavaOne. Based on results of a poll of Expert Group (EG) members, Executive Committee (EC) members, and PMO staff combined, 16 spec leads won the distinction of Star Spec Lead: Alejandro Abdelnur of Sun, Volker Bauche of Siemens, John Buford of Panasonic and Network Technologies Laboratories, Ekaterina Chtcherbina of Siemens, Linda DeMichiel of Sun, Andreas Ebbert of Nokia, Jan Eichholz of Siemens, Stefan Hepper of IBM, Mark Hornick of Oracle, Jere Kapyaho of Nokia, Kimmo Loytana of Nokia, Eamonn McManus of Sun, David Nuescheler of Day Software, Eric Overtoom of Motorola, Vincent Perrot of Sun, and Jim Van Peursem of Motorola.

Due to space constraints, I'll only be able to introduce a few of them to you this month.

Volker Bauche is a senior software technologist and team lead in the Siemens Mobile software technology department. He stays on the cutting edge, currently focusing on predevelopment projects, evaluations, prototypes, and so forth, which often incorporate Java technology. He got involved in the JCP work as early as 1998 when he became part of the Siemens team working on the Java Platform, Micro Edition standardization process. His JCP portfolio includes participation and contributions to JSR 118 MIDP 2.0; JSR 179 Location API for Java Platform, Micro Edition (Java ME); JSR 238 Mobile Internationalization API; JSR 256 Mobile Sensor API; and JSR 257 Contactless Communication API. Volker also served as co-Spec Lead with Jari Länsiö of Nokia on JSR 195 Information Module Profile (IMP) and JSR 228 IMP - Next Generation.

As a lead scientist for Panasonic Digital Networking Lab, John Buford conducts research in middleware for Java technology-enabled consumer electronics devices. John has worked with Java technology from the perspective of a developer, project lead, vendor, and researcher, covering all three editions of the Java Platform. He has developed clients for multimedia/hypermedia servers, network management systems, and workflow/e-commerce systems. He was the first to use Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) application servers for telecommunications network management and the first to implement the Java Virtual Machine Profiler Interface (JVMPI) for a Mobile Information Device Profile/Connected Limited Device Configuration (MIDP/CLDC) platform. John participated in developing a Java ME VM for various mobile and embedded platforms, including a Just-in-Time (JIT) compiler for the MIDP/CLDC platform. Currently John serves as a secondary representative to the EC, Expert Group member of JSR 259 Ad Hoc Networking API, and co-Spec Lead on four JSRs: JSR 164 SIMPLE Presence, JSR 165 SIMPLE Instant Messaging, JSR 186 Presence, and JSR 187 Instant Messaging

Andreas Ebbert, a software design engineer at Nokia, is responsible for the Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) programming for the Nokia NetAct network and service management system. His participation in the JCP program began in 2001 when Andreas joined the OSS through Java Initiative (OSS/J). He created the Reference Implementation (RI) and part of the Technology Compatibility Kit (TCK) for JSR 89 OSS Service Activation API. He participated in all OSS JSRs and in the development of the RI for JSR 144 OSS Common API. He serves as an Expert for JSR 263 Fault Management API and is Spec Lead for JSR 264 OrderManagement API.

A mathematician by education, Jan Eichholz of Siemens first participated in the standardization of the Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP) in 1999. Since then, Jan has participated as an Expert Group member in several Java Specification Requests (JSRs), all related to enhancing wireless technology and also served as Spec Lead for JSR 120 Wireless Messaging API (WMA) and JSR 205 WMA 2.0.

A software architect with IBM, Stefan Hepper started programming with Java technology when it was still at version 0.9, circa 1996. He began participating in the JCP program at the beginning of 2002 because customers wanted something done. He became co-spec lead with Sun's Alejandro Abdelnur for JSR 168 Portlet Specification, a standard enabling interoperability between portlets and portals. On behalf of IBM Stefan assumed responsibility for creating the Reference Implementation (RI) and on behalf of Sun Alejandro created the Technology Compatibility Kit (TCK).

What do all these folks have in common? They are passionate about Java, and they believe in the benefits of evolving the platform based on binary standards that ensure compatibility and thereby prevent problems that many customers would otherwise encounter.

Stay tuned for more Star Spec Leads profiles next month and check out more details about the Star Spec Leads program and their success with developing standards for the Java platform by visiting http://jcp.org/en/press/news/star.