Sun drives Java deep into DTV
eet.com
By Junko Yoshida
EE Times
(12/02/98, 4:04 p.m. EDT)
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Sun Microsystems is prepared to drive Java deeper
into the digital TV world, said Guy Tribble, vice president in charge of
architecture and technology for consumer & embedded at Sun, at the
Western Show here this week.
Sun plans to "announce and clarify" its new Java strategies and licensing
policies "within a month or two," Tribble said, most likely around the time of
the Consumer Electronics Show, scheduled for early January in Las Vegas.
Sun's DTV strategy could include key endorsements for Java from digital TV
industry groups such as Europe's Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) Project, as
well as the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) of the United
States.
In the last few months, both DVB and ATSC industry groups have been
independently holding separate but similar negotiations with Sun in the hope
of creating a new subset of Java that would be tuned to the needs of digital
broadcasting. The groups would like to see the management of the new
applications programming interface (API) turned over to a third party or to
the industry groups themselves.
Asked about Sun's recent discussions with a DVB delegation from Europe,
held just before the Thanksgiving holidays, Tribble said the talks proved "very
productive" in educating each side. Tribble said Sun was able to clarify its
Java policies to the representatives of the DVB Project, while the discussions
"also helped us to understand" the European group's intentions, he said.
"Sun's top level policy has never been in controlling Java API, but in ensuring
the cross platform compatibility," Tribble said. Demonstrating a willingness to
listen to others, Tribble said that Sun "knows we are not a TV company. We
are trying to work very closely with the industries-including cable operators,
broadcasters, content developers and equipment manufacturers."
In Sun's planned upcoming announcement, "we are trying to be a lot clearer
about how we work with the industries to extend Java, describe that whole
process in a little bit more formal way, and get the message out to the world,"
Tribble said. Noting that separate Java APIs for the DVB and ATSC would
not make sense, Tribble indicated that Sun is trying to get them together, and
"hopefully" the company will have them on its side when Sun's new Java
policies are announced. |
