Aplix, Symbian, and Tao Group Join EEMBC Java Group

EL DORADO HILLS, Calif.—September 3, 2002—EEMBC, the Embedded Microprocessor Benchmark Consortium, today announced that Aplix, Symbian, and Tao Group are the newest members of the consortium’s Java Subcommittee.

EEMBC’s Java group is developing a new series of benchmarks focused on the J2ME platform that will allow objective and certifiable performance evaluations for Java virtual machines (JVMs), just-in-time Java compilers, Java accelerators and coprocessors, other Java execution mechanisms, and the interaction of all of the above with a host operating system in an embedded application.

“Embedded Java is one of our fastest growing benchmark subcommittees,” said Markus Levy, EEMBC president. “Its rapid growth, since the subcommittee’s creation last year, shows both the popularity of embedded Java solutions and the urgent need for benchmarks to evaluate their performance according to industry-standard criteria.”

According to In-Stat MDR, embedded Java is expected to become an important feature of cellular phones and wireless devices because of the ability to download new applications or games while providing a user-friendly interface. Tens of millions of Java phones have been shipped by OEMs, and these companies are seeking unbiased performance results to help them determine the appropriate hardware for their next-generation phones.

“Application-centric, certifiable benchmarks will give manufacturers a better indicator of real-world Java performance enabling them to choose the right solution for their particular designs,” said Rod Crawford, Chair of EEMBC’s Java Subcommittee and Product Manager for Java Debug at ARM. “The result will be to shorten time to market for vendors and OEMs alike, and more quickly bring to fruition the potential of embedded Java solutions for enhancing the capabilities of wireless communication and computing systems.”

About The New EEMBC Embedded Java Subcommittee Members

Aplix has been a Sun licensee since 1996, and is currently Sun’s #1 Java licensee in terms of actual deployments. The company has used its extensive experience to create a best of breed Java platform called JBlend. JBlend has been embedded into more than 10 million shipping products including over 20 cell phone models from 10 different vendors, Sanyo Electric's Digital Image Album and Sony's MD DISCAM, among others.

Symbian is a software licensing company owned by Ericsson, Nokia, Matsushita (Panasonic), Motorola, Psion, Siemens, and Sony Ericsson. The company supplies the Symbian OS open standards operating system for data-enabled mobile phones, including the Nokia 9200 Series Communicator, the Nokia 7650 imaging phone, and Sony Ericsson's P800 smartphone. Symbian's fast and highly functional Java platform is a key enabler for an exciting new class of mobile integrated services.

Tao Group is an investment of Sony, Motorola, Mitsubishi, NEC and Sharp. intent® is its universal multimedia platform for home and mobile networked appliances used by many of the world's leading OEMs in their client products. intent is the core technology of the Open Contents Platform Association (OCPA) launched successfully by blue-chip technology companies in Japan in 2001.

EEMBC is a registered trademark of the Embedded Microprocessor Benchmark Consortium. Sun, Sun Microsystems and Java are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks appearing herein are the property of their respective owners.