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To: MONACO who wrote (2972)	4/1/1998 7:34:00 PM
From: ZARAH	Respond to of 10309

Monica et all: seems like they are going to be busy...Allen, what is your take on this? How will it impact the embedded market? z ********************************************************* Microsoft Will Revamp its Windows CE Operating System with Real-Time Features Exclusive Report Posted on EE Times Online at eet.com MANHASSET, NY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 1, 1998-- In a frontal assault on the embedded-systems market, Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT - news) will revamp its Windows CE operating system to include ''hard'' real-time features which can support time-critical applications in process control, data and telecommunications, CMP's EE Times has learned at the Embedded Systems Conference Spring. Embedded systems are specialized computers used to control devices such as automobiles, home and office appliances, hand-held units of all kinds as well as machines as sophisticated as space vehicles. Windows CE is an operating system that is designed to act as the central nervous system on these computers. Microsoft will disclose its plans next Monday, April 6, at its Windows CE Developer's Conference in San Jose, Calif., sources close to the company told the publication. ''This will put competitive pressure on the competing real-time operating systems,'' Paul Zorfass, embedded analyst at International Data Corp. (Framingham, Mass.), told EE Times. To date, Windows CE has been viewed largely as an operating system that's best suited for hand-held PCs and other applications that can get by with the relatively laggard response times common to the PC world. But Microsoft has acknowledged that the current release of CE can't deliver the guaranteed, ultra-fast interrupt-response times required for heavy duty or ''hard'' real-time applications. Accordingly, Microsoft will add a host of specific new features into the next release of CE to implement hard real-time support. It's not clear when Microsoft's beefed up version of CE will be available, but code is not expected before the end of the year. Once it hits the market, it could constitute potent competition for long-standing real-time operating systems (RTOS) such as QNX from QNX Software Systems Ltd., VxWorks from Wind River Systems Inc. [Nasdaq:WIND - news], pSOS from Integrated Systems Inc. [Nasdaq:INTS - news], OS-9 from Microware Systems, LynxOS from Lynx Real-Time Systems Inc. and VRTX from the Microtec division of Mentor Graphics Corp [Nasdaq:MENT - news]. Perhaps to cover their bases, many of these traditional RTOS vendors have also aligned with Microsoft to deliver support to existing CE developers. Further details can be found in the full EE Times report, posted at techweb.cmp.com. EE Times, published weekly by CMP Media, is the leading publication covering the high tech original equipment manufacturing industry. The well-respected weekly--which in recent years broke several major industry stories including the news of the floating point bug in Intel's Pentium processors--is the only source that delivers news of both business and technology to engineers and technical/corporate managers at electronics and computer systems manufacturers in North America. The publication's Web site, EE Times Online, can be accessed at eet.com. CMP Media Inc. (Nasdaq: CMPX - news) is the only high-tech media company providing essential information and marketing services to the full technology spectrum--the builders, sellers and users of technology worldwide. With its portfolio of leading newspapers, magazines, custom publishing, Internet products and conferences, CMP Media is uniquely positioned to offer marketers comprehensive, integrated solutions tailored to meet their individual needs. Online editions of the company's print publications, which include EE Times, InformationWeek, Computer Reseller News and Windows Magazine, along with products and services created exclusively for the Internet, can be found on CMPnet at cmpnet.com.