Concurrent multiversion plugin support

Customer comments:

We have two web based applications that we need to use concurrently.
One of the applications requires JVM 1.1 or JRE 1.3.1 and the other
requires JRE 1.4.1. We are using IE as the browser to access the
applications. The applications function correctly when we use the
applications 1 at a time. However, when we attempt to run both
applications concurrently, the JRE 1.4.1 application ceases to function
correctly. The JVM 1.1 application continues to function correctly.

We have contacted Microsoft and they have mentioned a technology called
"side-by-side" that was introduced in Windows 2000. This technology
allows multiple versions of software components to reside on the same
system and run the correct version depending on what function you are
trying to perform. For instance, this "side-by-side" technology allows
different versions of .NET Framework to reside on the same machine, and
depending on the function being attempted, the "side-by-side"
technology chooses the correct version of .NET Framework to fulfill the
request.

Can the SUN JRE's take advantage of this "side-by-side" technology? If
not, is there an alternative method, other than running two different
browsers, to accomplish running the two JRE versions concurrently?