LM Ericsson AB and Samsung Electric Co were among the big name support that Sun Microsystems Inc wheeled out for JavaOne yesterday. And reports suggested that a Sony Corp deal might also emerge over the next few days. Ericsson is to license PersonalJava and the Java Application Environment to support its third generation wide band WCDMA mobile communications standard (CI No 3,315). Ericsson has been developing WCDMA, which will enable the radio transmission of internet and multimedia services on mobile phones, since 1989, and says it’s the biggest research and development It’s so far won support from the European Telecommunications Standard Institute and the Japanese ARIB standards body. Motorola Inc and Nokia Oy are also Java licensees, giving Sun all three major cellular phone vendors as its customers. Meanwhile Samsung will use Sun’s JavaEngine 1 microSparc-based board for thin clients (CI No 3,232) as the basis for a new product line, NetMonitor, which is due to reach mass production in the second half of the year. NetMonitor, a network computer thin client, will rely on the JavaEngine’s microSparc IIep processor, Ethernet networking, color graphics, stereo audio and PC peripheral connectivity options, along with the JavaOS operating system and HotJava Views user communication and productivity software. It will be produced by Samsung’s Display Division. Meanwhile, the New York Times hears that Sony Corp is also preparing to announce a licensing agreement for Java with Sun. Sony is active in some key Java markets, such as set top boxes, digital television and home networking.
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