Real-time system software developer Microware Systems Corp and PC Card software company SystemSoft Corp have partnered to promote smart consumer electronics products such as Internet appliances and digital television set-top terminals configured to support peripheral devices such as modems and printers. The partnership will extend PC Card support to the OS-9 real-time operating system for embedded Internet appliances, wireless communications devices and other embedded systems, as well as to David, Microware’s OS-9 variant for digital television. As a result of this accord, many accessories that can be used on a personal computer, such as a modem or hard drive, could be plugged into devices like digital cameras, Internet appliances, digital television decoders and wireless communications products, explained Mike Burgher, executive vice-president at Des Moines, Iowa-based Microware. One example of the types of products that could come out of this partnership is an OS-9-based cell phone that the user could plug in a scheduler PC Card to check appointments, schedule calls or log phone calls, he said. Microware’s OS-9 operating system is a multi-tasking real-time system, with scalable architecture that lets it fit a range of designs from small embedded devices to larger networked systems. It has the OS-9 Kernel, hierarchical file system, input-output management and development tool integration. Microware is developing a complete Internet software environment for consumer devices, including Java support, Spyglass Web Technology Kit (CI No 2,929) networking protocols and a graphics application programming interface.
