re: The VIVIAN Project & The Global Mobile Open Software Standards Initiative
Opening Mobile Platforms for the Development of Component-Based Applications. (Vivian, ITEA 99040)
It appears to me that the Nokia/Sony initiative announced by Sony at COMDEX and the larger initiative announced by Jorma at COMDEX later the same day has its European roots in The VIVIAN Project - ITEA 99040.
ITEA (Information Technology for European Advancement) was formed by Alcatel, Bosch, Bull, DaimlerChrysler, Italtel, Nokia, Philips, Siemens, Thales and Thomsom Multimedia, in July 1999, and VIVIAN is an early ITEA/Eureka project.
Official VIVIAN partners are, Adisoft (D), CAS (D), HUT (FIN) INRIA (F), INT (F), Memodata (F), Nokia (FIN), Philips (NL), Palmware (F), Paravant (FIN), and Unicom (FIN).
I confess that I am only really familiar with 5 of the above companies, universities, etc.
I have seen references to other companies, universities, and organizations taking part in VIVIAN such as CIME Group, Ericsson, Symbian, and Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT) is a contractor of Nokia Corporation in the Vivian project.
I am assuming that possibly Sony might have been leading or involved with a comparable Asian project and if anyone has any background on this, if indeed there is a "this", I would certainly appreciate it if they would post it here.
I am also assuming that the Nokia Series 60 is early fruit of VIVIAN labor. I haven't drilled down on this. Perhaps someone would care to comment.
In this post I'm attempting to cobble together a little background on the VIVIAN Project.
VIVIAN Background:
Although I heard about ITEA elsewhere, I first heard of the VIVIAN Project in this press release last spring and it provides a pretty good description of VIVIAN (aka Vivian):
cl02.cyperus.fr
>> The VIVIAN project, a two-year advanced development project within the European ITEA (Information Technology For European Advancement) framework, was officially kicked-off in Helsinki earlier this year. and CIME has now officially started the project, together with French partners Memodata, INRIA and INT.
Headed by Nokia, VIVIAN comprises the major players of the European mobile computing arena as well as a number of research institutes and SMEs from five European countries.
The objective of the VIVIAN project is to provide a high-level platform for handheld terminals and PDA devices (such as the "communicators" and "smartphones" produced by Nokia, Ericsson and Psion) which will enable the production of third-party software applications.
To reach this objective, the VIVIAN project combines Symbian's EPOC operating system for PDAs with a lightweight version of OMG's CORBA in order to provide a platform based on full-fledged component technology, extensible as required according to the application needs. Thus, third-party vendors are enabled to produce their own components that enhance the platform's functionality and support the specific needs of their applications. CIME is [also] contributing its competence in banking and ticketing applications to the VIVIAN project. cimegroup.com <<
VIVIAN Facts
>> Opening Mobile Platforms for the Development of Component-Based Applications
(Vivian, ITEA 99040) Project start: 06/2000 Project end: 08/2002
Goal
>> The project goal is to provide a middleware platform for mobile terminals (e.g. smart phones, PDAs, laptops) which will support the mobility aspect of these devices and facilitate the development of 3rd-party software components (applications and services). <<
Overview
>> Mobile communication, personal computing and distributed information services are merging in a rapid pace and existing commercial platforms for mobile devices need a substantial boost in order to meet the new market needs. To help in this direction, the VIVIAN project proposes a middleware platform for a variety of application domains accompanied by a developer's guide which together will ease the task of 3rd party developers of mobile applications and services. To reach this objective, VIVIAN has to tackle software development problems at different levels ranging from the operating system (necessary for developing drivers for peripherals attached to the mobile terminal, e.g. smart card readers) to the middleware and the application levels. VIVIAN prioritizes Symbian OS and Linux-based mobile terminals and builds on CORBA experience in order to provide a mobility-enabled middleware platform founded on full-fledged component technology, extensible on request according to the application needs. <<
Details
>> The work in the VIVIAN project is organized in six (6) workpackages as follows:
VIVIAN specification (requirements elicitation & analysis and platform architecture)
- Prototype implementation (based on wireless CORBA)
- Design and development of domain specific platform components
- Integration of platform components
- Design and implementation of domain specific applications
- Documentation and dissemination
The project results will support the easy development of applications and services for a wide range of mobile application domains including Customer Relation Management, Linguistic applications, Electronic Ticketing Systems, Geographic Information Systems, Collaborative work, indoor navigation, etc. <<
Official VIVIAN Web Site
www-nrc.nokia.com
The site is divided into Public and Private sections
The "Welcome to the VIVIAN Public Pages states:
The objective of the VIVIAN project is to provide an adequate mobile platform for handheld terminals and PDA devices (e.g. PSION netBook, NOKIA 9210, COMPAQ iPaq, etc) which will enable the easy development of third-party software applications. To reach this objective the VIVIAN project intends to provide a mobile middleware platform (e.g. based on wireless CORBA) on top of popular operating systems for handheld devices (e.g. Symbian OS) in order to enable to the mobile terminals a full-fledged component-based development technology, extensible on request according to the application needs. The key to the industrial success of the VIVIAN approach lies in the fact that the consortium composition covers a wide spectrum of application providers from different market domains as well industries involved with the development of core middleware for mobile platforms. Hence, the outcome of the project is preset to satisfy the needs of various application domains and to meet the goals of the mobile middleware providers.
Graphic Summarry of the VIVIAN Middleware Platform (1 page)
www-nrc.nokia.com
VIVIAN Status Update (July 12, 2001)
>> On July 12, 2001 the 1st ITEA review of the VIVIAN project took place in Helsinki. By that time the platform requirements elicitation and analysis were accomplished and the architecture specification had started. Also, implementation design of the prototype was ongoing. <<
VIVIAN Results
>> The project has produced the requirements document containing the results of the requirements elicitation and analysis phase of the VIVIAN platform. The first draft of the architecture document is on its way as well as the implementation design of the VIVIAN prototype. Also, a number of proof of concept software has been developed to provide feedback regarding the application expectations from the middleware platform. <<
VIVIAN Requirements Document (May Draft)
Later version not available.
www-nrc.nokia.com
Related Topics
* Java and J2ME
java.sun.com
java.sun.com
* Symbian and Symbian OS
symbian.com
* Wireless CORBA (Common Object Request Broker)
- Kimmo Raatikainen (NRC). Wireless CORBA, June 2000 (pdf, 70KB)
www-nrc.nokia.com
- OMG. The Wireless CORBA Specification, March 2001 (pdf, 154KB)
omg.org
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- Eric - |
