Definition of JINI in Network Encyclopedia.
What is Jini?
JINI is a networking technology developed by Sun Microsystems that enables devices that run the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) to quickly form network connections between each other as needed for communication.
You can plug together Jini devices to form an instant federation or community of devices without needing to install software or configure the devices. Each device in a Jini community can provide various kinds of services to other devices in the community.
Jini technology is based on the Java programming language and defines protocols for dynamic discovery, joining, lookup, leasing, and transaction processes between devices.
Sun hoped to implement Jini technology in everyday devices such as televisions, telephones, and pagers to increase the level of connectivity of these devices and to provide new functions for them.
Jini Limitations
Jini uses a lookup service to broker communication between the client and service. This appears to be a centralized model (though the communication between client and service can be seen as decentralized) that does not scale well to very large systems. However, the lookup service can be horizontally scaled by running multiple instances that listen to the same multicast group.
