Wind River, Sun Join Forces to Deliver Complete Embedded Software Solution for Automotive Telematics Market

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Wireless Developer Network - Daily News

Wind River, Sun Join Forces to Deliver Complete Embedded Software Solution for Automotive Telematics Market

URL(s): www.windriver.com; www.sun.com

ALAMEDA & PALO ALTO, Calif., Oct. 24, 2001-- Strategic Alliance to Deliver End to End Platform for Rapid Development of Java(TM) Technology-based Car Infotainment Systems

Wind River Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:WIND) and Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq:SUNW) today announced that the two companies are collaborating to jointly develop and market a complete end-to-end embedded development solution for Java(TM)technology-based automotive telematics applications. This strategic alliance targets in-car information, navigation, safety and entertainment systems, as well as the infrastructure required to deliver and administer these services. Through the agreement, Wind River's Tornado(R) for Car Infotainment development platform will be integrated with Sun's Java technology, giving automotive manufacturers a complete solution for delivering telematics content and services over a wireless network to mobile vehicles.

Automotive telematic devices combine wireless voice and data communication systems in order to enhance driver safety and provide information including automatic airbag deployment notification, vehicle tracking, personalized information, real-time traffic data, roadside assistance, and entertainment from a central service center. Growth of telematics-enabled cars and light trucks in use in the United States is expected to increase from 1.1 million in 2000 to over 20.5 million by 2006 (Telematics Research Group).

"Java technology is in a unique position to support dynamic delivery of applications, content, and services to multiple telematics platforms, something we view as fundamental to telematics application development," said Aisling MacRunnels, director of marketing, Consumer and Embedded, Sun Microsystems, Inc. "Today's announcement with Wind River extends the cross-platform and cross-device benefits of the Java platform by bringing more choices to the embedded developer community."

"Java technology has emerged as a key building block for leading-edge telematics applications, and we expect Sun's Java technology to further strengthen this position," said Marc Serughetti, director of marketing, Wind River Automotive and Industrial business unit. "Due to the complexity of deploying and maintaining in-car applications and services, auto manufacturers need complete, end-to-end solutions in order to get their products to market on time. Our alliance with Sun leverages these market trends, and will ultimately enable manufacturers to realize significant time-to-market advantages and focus on creating the intelligent networked vehicles of the future."

Through the alliance, Sun's Java technology will be integrated with Wind River's Tornado for Car Infotainment platform. This integration will result in a complete telematics solution comprised of the following components:

-- Integrated development environment (IDE), embedded development tools, real-time operating system (RTOS), in-vehicle connectivity and Java programming interface required to develop in-car telematic devices.

-- A back-end infrastructure enabling vehicle service providers to deliver and administer the provided content.

-- A Java technology-based software framework to implement the services in the vehicle and in the supporting infrastructure.

-- A set of partner companies providing complementary technologies throughout the Wind River value-chain.

Java Technology

With the Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME(TM)), Sun is developing a runtime environment and software platform for in-vehicle telematics applications. The scalable infrastructure and back-end enterprise platform is based on Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE(TM)) for hosting and delivering applications, content and services. Sun believes that next generation telematics platforms should be non-proprietary and based on certified Java platforms providing original equipment manufacturers, vehicle service providers and tier-1 suppliers with multiple vendors to source both product and technology. This open in-vehicle and back-end end-to-end solution would lead to faster time to market and lower costs in the delivery of safety/security, diagnostics, entertainment and location-based services to consumers. Sun is working closely with AMI-C and OSGi in the evolution and adoption of standards in this space.

Tornado for Car Infotainment

Tornado for Car Infotainment is a vertical solution for the development of car infotainment and telematic devices. It is comprised of Wind River's Tornado(R) IDE, market-leading VxWorks(R) RTOS, embedded development tools, WindML(TM) multimedia libraries, Personal JWorks(TM) Java solution and automotive-specific components including support for controller area network (CAN), IDB-C, media oriented system transport (MOST), Bluetooth, voice command-and-control, and synthesized voice information for the driver. Tornado for Car Infotainment shifts the focus of automotive device developers from the integration of enabling technologies to the development of the application itself -- reducing development cost and speeding time to market. In addition, Tornado for Car Infotainment users benefit from Wind River's worldwide support and services organizations, embedded expertise and more than 600 WindLink(TM) partners bringing complementary technologies such as speech recognition, browsers, open service gateway initiative (OSGI) and IDB-1394 networking protocol stack.

About Sun Microsystems

Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision -- The Network Is the Computer(TM) -- has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc. to its position as a leading provider of industrial strength hardware, software and services that power the Internet and allow companies worldwide to take their business to the nth. Sun can be found in more than 170 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://www.sun.com.

About Wind River

Wind River, www.windriver.com, is a worldwide leader in embedded software. Wind River provides software development tools, real-time operating systems, and advanced connectivity for use in products throughout the Internet, telecommunications and data communications, digital imaging, digital consumer electronics, networking, medical, computer peripherals, automotive, industrial automation and control, and aerospace/defense markets. Wind River is how smart things think. Founded in 1983, Wind River is headquartered in Alameda, California, with operations worldwide.

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