In June last year, Sun Microsystems Inc announced a whole string of licensees for its picoJava microprocessor core (CI No 2,927), since when there has been total silence on the subject of anyone doing the dirty work and actually making the chips. At that time, the microJava and UltraJava parts were still unlicensed, and that appears to be the case now. But the company has trotted out three of the six firms it announced last June (the others were NEC Corp, Mitsubishi Electronics America Inc and Samsung Electronics Co) to say a little more about what they plan to do with the cores. Rockwell International Corp, Seal Beach, California plans to embed the picoJava I core in chips for use in smart cellular phones that can also access the Internet. Toshiba Corp plans to use microJava chips to make new kinds of portable computers, and LG Semicon Co Ltd plans to use them in Internet-ready televisions. The last deal is the subject of a memorandum of understanding between Sun and LG for joint development of the first consumer Java processor aimed at bringing the Internet users via Network Computers, Internet televisions, Internet set- top boxes and consumer kiosks. LG Semicon will produce it at its South Korean manufacturing facilities and Sun will get exclusive worldwide sales and marketing rights.
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