Along with its collaboration with Sun Microsystems Inc at the recent JavaOne conference, (CI No 3,133), Lucent Technologies Inc has also signed up a number of other companies for its Inferno real-time networked operating system Partners Program, announced at the end of last month. The companies, in the telecommunications, computer, Internet, semiconductor and service provider industries, include high profile firms such as Acer Inc, Digital Equipment Corp, Epson America Inc, National Semiconductor Corp and Informix Software Inc, as well as lesser known firms such as JCC America, the Palo Alto, California-based US arm of Tokyo-based Japan Computer Corp; Taiwanese telecommunications firm Tecom Co Ltd; interactive television firm OmniBox Inc of Stamford, Connecticut; Internet technology house CyberExpress Inc; network service software house Technology Applications Inc of St. Louis, Missouri, transaction appliance and point-of-sale equipment manufacturer TransPhone LLC of Ottawa, Canada, and UK software house Vita Nuova Ltd (CI No 3,081). Few of the companies are ready to say what they are doing with the technology. JCC America said it would use Inferno as part of its efforts to promote its iBOX Internet communicator box to Internet service providers. CyberExpress Inc, which is using Inferno as part of its newly launched CE2000 multi-language graphical Internet interface, designed to run on a variety of Internet information appliances, appears to be the first to come out with actual product. CE2000 can be downloaded from the Web at http://www.cyberexp.com. Lucent says two more announcements are due over the next few weeks.
