Jini Jive
Discovery Protocol (formerly known as Boot and Join): This protocol lets a new device or software on a network issue a multicast packet to alert other resources of its existence. Then it allows network users or programs to download drivers or information about the device or application.

Java Remote Method Invocation: The basic component communications mechanism in Jini. RMI is a Java run-time library that lets data and code be passed from object-to-object on a network. It provides replication, multicast, security, confidentiality, object discovery, activation and garbage collection. RMI is slated to be extended in perhaps the second release of Jini (about a year from now) to include a distributed security model. Microsoft's Java implementation replaces RMI with its own method invocation in COM.

Jini: A Java-centric distributed system architecture that lets users share device or program resources across a network without preconfiguration. Jini will be implemented first on Unix and NT clients that already include Java Virtual Machines. Jini does not eliminate the need for an OS, but instead distributes certain hardware and software components that might otherwise fall under a desktop OS across a network. The goal is to provide greater access and use of these components as well as eliminate the administrative burden inherent in preconfiguring desktops.

Jini enablement: A platform already running a Java Virtual Machine can be Jini-enabled with about 48 KB of additional Jini-specific code. Devices and software that lack a JVM can be Jini-enabled by relying on a thin veneer of code (in the hundreds of bytes) as long as they can communicate across the network to a machine with a JVM. That JVM serves as a proxy for the resource. An alternative is for the device to communicate natively to a kind of Java translator that can interpret the native information from a device (or set of devices) and convert it to a form that the lookup service can understand. One obvious product to expect from Sun is a Jini-enabling chip.

Jini services: The Jini architecture doesn't include services, which will come in the form of products from Sun and others. A service might, for example, enable the use of multiple processors across a network or coordinate storage needs across a network.

Lookup protocol: The Jini protocol employed by a user or program to find required devices and download and install necessary driver equivalents, wizards, attribute descriptions and programs.

Lookup service: A limited, special-purpose directory in which network devices and programs are registered in Jini. Objects in a lookup service can contain other lookup services as well as encapsulate other naming or directory services. Objects on a network can register with the lookup service to learn when new resources are added to the network or old ones disappear.