Jason: Re: Lucent Inferno
The Lucent announcement caught me off guard.
The Lucent Inferno press release (Business Wire 9:51AM EDT 10/03/97)
claims that 10,000 developers are currently working with the Inferno
network operating system. I'm surprised that this number of developers
could be amassed without a higher media profile. I don't recall seeing
any mention of "Inferno" or of a Lucent RTOS by any other name, in any
of the tech pubs. that I read. I suppose that the claim could be
marketing hyperbole.
Jason, I too am curious about Lucent's "extended family"/Inferno
Partners Program. According to the Reuters article (11:23AM EDT
10/03/97), Lucent "plans to incorporate Inferno inside all of the data
network hardware and software products it sells."
My conclusion is in agreement with yours, regarding Lucent as both a
software vendor and a hardware competitor. If they intend to offer
hardware for the Internet Appliance market, it would put Lucent in the
position of competing against their potential software customers. I
think that Inferno would be a hard sell, in this situation. Lucent's
hardware competitors would be more comfortable doing business with a
pure software vendor, who wouldn't threaten their end product.
However, Microsoft is hardware agnostic, but threatens in a different
way.
I recall reading in EE Times (circa August 1996) that Japanese
computer vendors wanted to develop an RTOS for their PDAs/handheld
devices, specifically to ward-off Microsoft. Evidently, Microsoft's
practices in the PC market made the Japanese reluctant to allow
WindowsCE inside their new products. No doubt, hardware developers
would be more willing to work with a smallish, non-monopolistic,
software company.
I think that both Lucent and Microsoft could be formidable competitors
in the Internet Appliance market but, I believe that Wind River can
get their fair share of this market also.
I don't have first-hand experience with any of the business scenarios
outlined above; they just seem plausible to me, and need a reality
check. I sent an E-mail to WIND's investor relations yesterday. I hope
to get WIND's opinion of the situation.
Anyone else care to offer an assessment?
Best Regards,
Frank |
