Howdy -- if I understand your question, the EJBObject reference *can* be passed as part of a remote method call, so that means it *can* be passed into a different JVM, but that is a runtime thing, guaranteed by normal RMI semantics.
BUT... there is no guarantee that you can serialize the remote reference, say, email it to somebody, and have them deserialize it into something they can use later to re-establish a connection to the server. The vendor is free to implement the remote reference any way that it likes (it isn't *required* to use rmic-generated stubs, for example), and while with many servers you CAN serialize and re-use the EJBObject reference as you would a Handle, it just isn't guaranteed. Handles exist as a *guaranteed* portable way to get back something that *behaves* as though it were your original reference.
I hope that makes sense.
cheers,
Kathy