Sun turns up heat on Java for next-gen wireless

By
EE Times
(03/21/02, 06:09:42 PM EDT)

SAN FRANCISCOSun Microsystems will turn up the heat on Java as the unifying platform for the fragmented world of next-generation wireless systems at its Java-One conference here Monday (March 25). New handsets, a faster Java virtual machine, improvements that round out key software standards and free development tools all geared specifically for mobile applications are on the front burner.

Sun's efforts come as Microsoft, Palm, Qualcomm, embedded Linux and a host of other players vie for design wins in 2.5 and third-generation cellular systems, a market still tiny but widely expected to become a significant new driver.

Just in time for JavaOne, developers put out for public review a major update of the Java software standard for cellular systems. About 60 companies and people helped define the Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP) 2.0, up from 22 that worked on the first iteration released in September 2000.

"That's an indication the interest [in Java for wireless] has gone from its infancy where people were sitting on the sidelines to one where there is broad interest and people can see it's real," said Jim Van Peursem, a chief Java architect for Motorola's semiconductor group and specification leader for MIDP 2.0.

The new spec boosts security by supporting cryptographically signed applications and the secure version of Hypertext Transfer Protocol. It also adds support for MP3 audio, improves user interface controls and brings capabilities for "Sega Genesis-class" 2-D games to Java smart phones for the first time.

Separate standards efforts completed a Java API for Bluetooth a few months ago and created a Java mobile multimedia API that supports streaming media such as MPEG-4 video. The spec is now out for public review.

"You'll see a lot more robust applications at both the consumer and business levels enabled so handset makers will deploy more devices, which means a lot more content," said Van Peursem.

Indeed, sparking developers to write lots of Java phone applications is a key agenda item for the conference. To that end, Sun will release Forte for Java, Micro Edition, the first version of the free software development tool specifically geared for Java in a mobile systems environment.

"The whole game is to get as many people as possible writing as much software as possible to get content out there. It's about enabling new revenue models for the carriers," said Drew Engstrom, product line manager for Forte.

At JavaOne, Sun is also expected to disclose a new tool to help business users rework their applications to let Java devices access their corporate applications.

Hardware is another key part of that chicken-and-egg game, and Sun promises new Java devices will be launched at the conference. Some 18 million Java phones have been sold, 11 million of them for Docomo's i-mode service in Japan, said Eric Chu, Java wireless-marketing manager for Sun.

"Over the last five months, Motorola, Nokia, Siemens, Ericsson and Research in Motion have launched 15 Java-enabled handsets," Chu said, noting that some 50 Java mobile devices are now available from 15 companies. "We've been working hard to enable Java as a common software platform across all hardware devices," he said.

Sun will also show a new, fast virtual machine for Java Micro Edition (J2ME), the slimmed-down version of Java that includes the cellular and other mobile versions. It marks the first JVM specifically tailored to help accelerate performance of the interpreted language on mobile systems.

"Performance is not an issue anymore," said Chu. "Companies like Nokia, Ericsson and Motorola wouldn't be betting their businesses on Java if it was."

"We've been funneling a lot of energy into Java acceleration," said Motorola's Van Peursem. "We have used lots of tricks to speed up JVM performance, and on the hardware acceleration side I think we will have support for [ARM's] Jazelle [Java accelerator core] soon," he added.

Startup Savaje Technologies (North Chelmsford, Mass.) has announced a JVM and operating systems suite it claims will boost the performance of Java on smart phones dramatically by taking code quickly from the Java byte-code layer to hardware without intervening APIs.

"We felt we had to develop the full OS to make the application run fast," said Matt Katino, founder and vice president of business development for the startup.

Although the Savaje kernel and JVM fit in 200 kbytes of memory, the company uses a full Java Standard Edition (J2SE) library set, which requires up to 9 Mbytes, a footprint Katino described as not unusual in smart phones. The OS is available for $10 per unit for the StrongArm and Xscale processors from Intel. A port to the OMAP CPUs of Texas Instruments is in the works.

"I think we will have two or three OEMs to announce by midyear, and a total of six to eight by the end of the year," he added.

Another startup, Kada Systems (Burlington, Mass.), is announcing a full Java environment that fits in just 550 kbytes and will run on top of a gamut of existing mobile operating systems. Kada's Mobile ROI software will be available for the Palm 4.x OS running the DragonBall processor in April and the Palm 5.0 on ARM in the summer. A Microsoft PocketPC version will come in May and a Symbian version is in the works.

"I think the market will coalesce around Java and [Microsoft's] .Net," said Jim Acquaviva, chief executive of Kada Systems. "Operating systems will play less of a role and Java will provide the interface to services. And we won't have a repeat of the PC market where one size of device fits all," he added.

The announcements, combined with a groundswell of developer support, give Java a strong position in a nascent market for voice and data systems. However, analysts note it's still early for 2.5 and 3G cellular technology.

"Java still has the majority mind share in this arena, but there are competitors on their heels and the fact is no one has a clue just what these systems will be yet. They know i-mode worked in Japan, but they are not sure what will work in the West," said Will Strauss of market watcher Forward Concepts (Tempe, Ariz.). "So, though Java has the impetus and could be what everyone uses in a few years, it's still too early to tell."

Strauss estimates that less than 10 million General Packet Radio Services and CDMA 2000 handsets will ship this year out of a total of 340 million, mainly 2G cell phones. Microsoft's .Net and Qualcomm's Brew software environments could become significant players here as well.

Native Palms

For its part, Palm, which is designed into smart phones from Kyocera, Samsung and Handspring, is embracing both Java and native Palm applications. "Java will be an important part of our overall platform strategy," said David Nagel, president and chief executive of PalmSource Inc., which licenses the PalmOS. "Palm has been leading the PDA profile work within the Java community. That work is now in the approval stages," he said.

Sharp will fire a volley for yet another software camp on Monday (March 25) when it officially announces its latest Zaurus organizer, a Palm look-alike device that runs embedded Linux. A number of developers are turning to embedded Linux because they can easily create modular versions with just the software components they need, said a spokesman for Trolltech AS (Oslo, Norway), which supplied key middleware for the Zaurus and a smart phone using embedded Linux that the company said will be announced in May.

In an area some say will consolidate to a battle between Microsoft and Palm, "we think embedded Linux will be a successful third way" the spokesman said.

The smart phone space badly needs a unifier, because it has become very fragmented, said Gerardo Dada, a product-marketing manager for wireless technologies at Motorola subsidiary Metrowerks, which is launching its first wireless-specific application development tools at JavaOne.

"The new cell phones are very diverse, with different processors, screen sizes and input mechanisms as well as additional features added by OEMs," Dada said. In addition, developers face systems using a matrix of different chip sets, operating systems and JVMs. "You are pretty quickly talking about a 3-D space where it gets pretty complex," he added.