Nifty Corporation

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ISP Nifty Offers Subscribers Online Transaction Service

Nifty Corporation has provided network services to PC users in Japan for the past 15 years—even before the Internet became widely used—and greatly contributed to the spread of the Internet in that country. Now the leading Japanese Internet Service Provider (ISP), Nifty delivers email, freeware/shareware, and information services to over 5 million subscribers.

Recently, competition between Japanese ISPs has intensified. Some providers are solely interested in delivering cheap pricing. Nifty, in contrast, is focusing not only on price but also on improving content and quality. Toru Miyazawa, deputy senior general manager of Planning, Navigation Design, and Corporate Planning, emphasized this point: "Just providing an Internet connection and distributing content isn't enough. Supporting @nifty member activities is our first priority." From its inception, Nifty supported communication between members. The Nifty Forum, one of the first online communities anywhere, has influenced many later online communities. The OpenArt area provides a place for members to display photographs and other images. And Nifty has long provided a way to purchase shareware.

To maintain the member-friendly approach it has offered throughout the Internet era, Nifty wants to offer even more services. One new service is @pay, which enables individuals to buy and sell via the Internet. "Many @nifty members create their own digital content, such as illustrations, pictures, sounds, or other material." Mr. Miyazawa explained. "But in the past they could not easily sell their content online because there was no feasible payment method."

Interstage Application Server Chosen for Productivity, Scalability, Reliability

Understanding the needs of its user community, and specifying the characteristics that an online payment service for individuals would need, Nifty chose to use distributed component technologies for @pay, including Java and Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB). Ryuichi Suzuki, deputy senior general manager of Nifty's System Business division and general manager of the Application System Development department, explained why: "My division has responsibility for the quality of the systems we develop and for development efficiency and standardization. For the @pay mechanism, we had to build a stable system rapidly, and we knew that a Java-based Web application server would be optimal."

Using a Web application server for development was a first for the team. "In the past, we custom-developed all new applications," Mr. Suzuki continued. "But customized development limited how quickly we could develop a high-quality system. Also, to provide for future system growth, I thought component-based development would be best." Arriving at this decision was, however, no easy task, he said, because "any service outages were absolutely out of the question." Reliability was key.

The team began developing the @pay service in October 2001, and it needed to be completed within a just a few months. Because they needed rapid development capabilities, the Nifty team chose Interstage Application Server as their web application server. "Although lots of products were available, the Interstage Application Server was the only one that had already implemented the latest industry standards, such as SOAP and UDDI," Mr. Suzuki explained. "We wanted an application server that complied, because we were certain that web services would become widely used in the future."

He said another major factor in selecting Interstage Application Server was Fujitsu's robust support system. Nifty operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year—if there are problems, quick recovery is essential. "When we considered support, other vendors couldn't give us the comprehensive support system that Fujitsu offers. With Fujitsu, we can build and administer a new system with ease," Mr. Suzuki said.

Rapid Development Facilitated by the MVC Model

Adopting the Interstage Application Server significantly enhanced development efficiency, Mr. Suzuki continued. "The most significant factor was that we could achieve the development based on the MVC model."

The MVC model divides development into three areas: Model (business logic), View (presentation), and Control (communication/control). This strategy allows the system to easily and flexibly respond to system changes or to be expanded at a later date.

Mr. Suzuki gave an example: "We used virtual windows while we focused on the development of business logic. We then linked them to the existing windows at the end of the testing phase. This allowed the system to continue running without reprogramming other parts." Previously, when changes were made to the business logic or presentation, other areas were directly affected. The new strategy eliminated the burden of these modifications, so "we can flexibly respond to future service expansion," Mr. Suzuki said.

The performance of Java and EJB, which was initially of concern, turned out to be the perfect choice, he said. "Currently, the same server is used as both the web application and database server. But we can easily respond to increased access by dividing the server.

Fujitsu Interstage Development Suite Provides Development Efficiency

The development team also chose the Interstage Development Suite, Fujitsu's Java Integration Development Environment. "Traditionally, we developed from scratch, using editors, but Interstage Development Suite enabled us to automatically insert various procedures or standard message exchanges, letting us focus on business logic development, which significantly improves development efficiency," Mr. Suzuki said.

The Interstage Development Suite automatically generates interfaces that previously had to be developed manually. It also dramatically reduces debugging and testing operations, and improves development productivity when further components are added down the line.

Interstage Offers Infrastructure for the Future

Since the @pay service began, it has proved popular with users—many are selling content using @pay. And the service is as simple to use and secure for buyers as it is for sellers. Buyers charge purchases to their credit cards, and Nifty handles the transaction with the credit card company. Because @pay uses @nifty IDs, buyers' credit card information is never divulged to sellers. Nifty's @pay is a distributed service, provided on sellers' homepages. "To use the system," Mr. Miyazawa explained, "all you need to do is register online. Then you can immediately start selling your content—it's that simple. Although an @nifty ID is necessary for seller registration, because services are provided by linking to the payment server, you can even sell from homepages that are not hosted on @nifty." The monthly registration fee is only 200 yen (about $2), plus a per-transaction service charge. And sellers can price their content as low as 100 yen (approximately $1 U.S.).

The @pay service set a new benchmark for payment services between individuals on the Internet. And Nifty hopes to further expand this service. According to Mr. Miyazawa, "We are currently planning to start @streaming, another service linked to @pay. It can be used to publish and sell videos made by an individual or group."

"Fujitsu Interstage Application Server enabled us to create a high-quality service, rapidly and reliably," concluded Mr. Suzuki. "When it's time to build new services, it will be our tool of choice."