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Embedded Java ripe for rift

A battle is brewing between Hewlett-Packard Co. and Sun Microsystems Inc. over the burgeoning embedded Java space.

Each is lining up supporters for two Java implementations designed to easily link handheld PCs and embedded systems to the Internet.

HP last week released a version of a lightweight JVM (Java virtual machine) built from the ground up. The company also announced that it has created a number of new application servers for the embedded Java space.

The applications, according to HP officials in Palo Alto, Calif., will enable devices ranging from printers and electronic commerce systems to handheld PCs to communicate over the Internet.

The HP moves pre-empted Sun's planned rollout of its Embedded Java specification at the company's JavaOne developers conference this week in San Francisco.

Each side is working to line up supporters. Sun has landed more than a dozen partners, including Motorola Inc. and Nokia Corp. HP, for its part, has snagged Microsoft Corp., which licensed the HP technology for use within Windows CE and other projects.

Other third parties could be caught in the middle. For example, Palm Computing, a Mountain View, Calif., subsidiary of 3Com Corp., has not decided on either JVM to use in its PalmPilot handheld organizer.

HP plans to launch a campaign this week to push the industry to agree on an open process for evolving and creating Java technologies for embedded and handheld devices.

Joe Beyers, general manager for HP's Internet Software Business Unit, said HP created its own embedded JVM because of the company's experience with other embedded technology and because Sun does not include its partners in the process of creating embedded Java technology.

"Unless you license their Embedded Java technology and agree to the IP [intellectual property] rules, you cannot be involved in defining the embedded technology," Beyers said.

Alan Baratz, president of Sun's JavaSoft division, in Mountain View, disagreed with Beyers' comments, saying HP's statements are "untrue" and that the process to create Java specifications is totally open.

Palm Computing's hesitancy to decide on JVM technology isn't precluding it from getting into the Java game.

At JavaOne, Palm Computing will introduce a beta version of its Conduit Development Kit Java Edition, which uses Java synchronization technology developed by startup AvantGo Inc., in San Mateo, Calif.,

Using the kit, developers can design conduits or Windows DLL files that work with the PalmPilot's synchronization engine, called HotSync, to exchange data between it and desktop applications.

Palm Computing will distribute beta copies of the conduit kit to developers by the end of the week. The final version of the kit is expected next month for about $169, according to company officials.

Note: Hewlett-Packard has decided to ship a "clean room" implementation of the Java virtual machine for embedded systems. Cloning the Java run time lets HP and its licensees sidestep Sun's stiff licensing fees and technology implementation requirements. Not surprisingly, Microsoft is the first licensee of HP's Java VM clone for use in the Windows CE operating system. Sources say HP plans to offer its Java VM clone to embedded systems vendors for a fraction of the cost of Sun's officially sanctioned implementations.

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