NEC Corp has struck a licensing deal for Sun Microsystems Inc’s Java Card Integrated Circuit programming language and will use the Java Card technology to write Java-based IC card applications. NEC has been active in the IC space of late, trying to establish itself as a serious player in the system-on-a-chip business, which it anticipates will account for 50% of the IC market by 2005 (CI No 3,398). This is not the first time the companies have worked together on Java. In April 1996 the pair signed a license agreement for the Java Application Environment, and since then have worked on the development of network computers. As a result of the agreement, NEC will join the JavaCard Forum, helping drive the development of the JavaCard language and its usage.
