Ray, it seems to me that Nokia poses the greatest threat to Phone.com's potential to control the WAP server market. Some say their product is less mature, but I see them having a few strong relationships including France Telecom. What do you think?
Here's an article on PDA's. Some people suggest we need to watch out for Sun, and their desire to see Java have a more important role?
Regards, Mark
Trio seeks to jump-start Java-based PDAs
ISI, Mitsubishi and Sun team up on reference platform for building wireless Internet appliances
By Anne Knowles, PC Week Online
August 30, 1999 9:00 AM ET
A small real-time operating system vendor, along with some heavyweight partners, this week will launch a new platform for wireless devices that could pose a threat to the PalmPilot and Windows CE platforms in vertical markets such as sales force automation.
Integrated Systems Inc., developer of the pSOSystem real-time operating system, will announce a hardware reference platform to help OEMs build a new handheld device called the WebPDA, a personal digital assistant created by ISI, Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and Sun Microsystems Inc.
The WebPDA, which looks like a Windows CE Palm-size PC, is the first in a series of a half-dozen planned reference platforms ISI is developing in an effort to jump-start the Internet appliance market.
The idea is to give OEMs the necessary hardware and software building blocks to quickly develop and deliver a range of devices, including the WebPDA, said Charles Boesenberg, president and CEO of ISI, in Sunnyvale, Calif.
The WebPDA platform, for example, is based on Mitsubishi's "virtual remote computer" hardware design, which uses the Japanese electronics giant's M32R/D processor and runs ISI's pSOSystem and Sun's pJava. It also features a personal information manager, called Assistant, and an e-mail client, called Ebox, both from Espial Group Inc., of Ottawa.
The final specifications for the platform, from which vendors can build products, will be available in October. Boesenberg said he expects WebPDA devices to be commercially available by the middle of next year.
The hardware reference platform is appealing to vendors because all the components are already integrated, said Eric Nguyen, advanced technology marketing manager at Mitsubishi Electronics America Inc., in Sunnyvale. "There is much less headache for them since it is already coordinated," Nguyen said.
He added that "a handful" of hardware makers are currently evaluating the platform and said he expects it to be deployed primarily as a vertical platform for mobile workers such as claims adjusters and auditors.
Because the platform is based on a real-time operating system whose kernel takes up 30KB of memory, Boesenberg anticipates it will be used in applications that require reliable, real-time processing or immediate responses to input signals or transactions.
One application can be found in oil fields, where workers acquiring data need devices that can make decisions on the fly, said Art Monk, vice president of marketing at PointBase Inc., of San Mateo, Calif. PointBase makes a Java database under the PointBase name and is a member of ISI's Vantage IA Internet appliance program.
"A real-time operating system is advantageous in interrupt- driven processing, where multiple imports are contending for user attention and the device needs a way to manage those requests in real time," Monk said.
PointBase will demonstrate its database on another ISI platform—a handheld PC—at the Embedded Systems conference in San Jose, Calif., next month, he said.
ISI is working on five other reference platforms that will be designated by a specific processor. The company plans to announce each platform, individually, by year's end, Boesenberg said. To that end, the company is working with a number of semiconductor manufacturers, including National Semiconductor Corp., which last month announced the Geode family of systems on a chip. Geode is also targeted at information appliances.
Boesenberg declined to say what ISI and National Semi are working on together, but in addition to its Geode chip, National Semi has shown prototypes of an Internet appliance called WebPad. To date, the Santa Clara, Calif., company has said only that WebPad, a magazine-size tablet PC, will use an embedded operating system, but not which one.
Members of ISI's Vantage IA program include Mitsubishi; National Semi; Sun; Espial; PointBase; and ANT Ltd., maker of the Fresco browser and SimplEmail client for embedded devices.
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