November 29, 2001
Insignia Solutions(R) (Nasdaq:INSG), the leading provider of accelerated Java(TM) software solutions for information appliances, announced today its entry into the emerging market for Java technology-enabled mobile handsets and demonstrated next-generation mobile technology that addresses key market requirements for a Java technology-based runtime environment. The company will show the new technology -- which will be fully compliant with the Java 2 platform, Micro Edition (J2ME(TM)) Connected Limited Device Configuration (CLDC)/Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP) specifications -- for the first time at the JavaOne conference in Japan this week to select customers, partners and prospects.
According to a recent study by industry analyst firm ARC Group entitled "Wireless Java: Handset & Application Revenue Streams," more than 421 million handsets will be Java technology-enabled by 2003 with more than one billion handsets incorporating Java technology by 2006. ARC Group predicts that Java technology "will provide a significant boost to mobile data service usage, with the most powerful applications leveraging the end to end security enabled by Java in the SIM card, handset and server."
Integral to the realization of ARC's forecast is for Java technology to meet the increasingly stringent requirements by mobile handset developers for high performance, reduced battery consumption and small memory footprint. Insignia's new technology meets these unique requirements by successfully combining the latest Java virtual machine (JVM(TM)), bytecode execution and memory management technologies to deliver the optimal blend of accelerated performance, small memory footprint, low power consumption and other unique features that will benefit the mobile handset market. For example, Insignia addresses the performance issue, in part, by bringing a new lightweight implementation of its renowned dynamic adaptive compilation (DAC(TM)) bytecode acceleration technology -- built from-the-ground-up -- to these devices. Other unique innovations have been employed to address memory footprint and power consumption concerns.
Insignia plans to make the new technology available in Jeode products targeted to the mobile handset market in Q1 2002.
"Insignia's support of the CLDC/MIDP specification and migration of their technologies into the mobile information device market enriches the alternatives for high-performance Java technology that enhances the value of handset developer product and service offerings," said Rich Green, vice president and general manager, Java Software and XML, Sun Microsystems. "Insignia's entry further highlights the importance and demands for Java technology in the wireless data services market."
"We spent a significant amount of time researching market requirements and investigating the correlation between power consumption, performance and memory requirements for different deployment configurations," said Ron Workman, senior vice president of marketing with Insignia Solutions. "The result is a flexible runtime architecture with powerful deployment tools that delivers significant value-add to mobile handset manufacturers, carriers and service providers."
With more than 35 million runtime units of Jeode(TM) technology under contract and Jeode PDA Edition being shipped with market-leading devices such as the Compaq iPAQ Pocket PC H3800 series and Sharp Zaurus SL-5000D PDA, Insignia Solutions has established itself as the leader in deploying JVM technologies for information appliances and embedded devices that employ PersonalJava(TM) or EmbeddedJava(TM) technology.
"Insignia is fully committed to drawing on our years of expertise and working closely with leading companies in the wireless industry --including those that sit with us on the J2ME Executive Committee of the Java Community Process -- to deliver a Java solution that enables them to deploy the type of powerful Java technology-enabled applications and services that drive new market opportunities and revenue streams," said Mark McMillan, president and chief operating officer with Insignia Solutions.
The Market for Java Technology-Enabled Mobile Handsets
While Java technology is poised to be ubiquitous in the future mobile handset market, it has already made significant inroads. In Japan, NTT DoCoMo has upgraded more than 8 million i-mode cell phones with Java technology, while J-Phone and KDDI have also committed to Java technology-enabled cell phones for this market. In the U.S., Nextel is already shipping Java-enabled cell phones with Sprint announcing plans to do so next year. There are also several trials underway in Europe in various countries including Germany, Finland, Spain and the UK, with others to follow next year.
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