
ACCESS and PalmSource Announce the ACCESS Linux Platform
New commercial-grade Linux-based platform designed for smartphones and mobile devices
- Open, Flexible and Customizable
- Intuitive and Easy-to-Use
- Total Integrated Solution
3GSM World Congress, BARCELONA, Spain - February 14, 2006 - ACCESS Co., Ltd., and its wholly owned subsidiary, PalmSource, Inc.,
today announced the ACCESS Linux Platform (ALP), the latest evolution
of Palm OS? for Linux. The ACCESS Linux Platform is designed to be an
integrated, open and flexible Linux-based platform tailored for
smartphones and mobile devices.
ACCESS' goal is to have
ALP become the platform of choice for the development of high volume,
feature rich smartphones and mobile devices for high performance
networks, including 2.5G and 3G, worldwide. ALP is designed to provide
a complete, consistent and customizable solution for handset and mobile
device manufacturers and mobile operators. ACCESS and PalmSource expect
to make the ALP Software Developer Kit (SDK) available to its licensees
by the end of this year (2006).
"We believe that ALP combines best-in-class open source Linux
components with proven mobile technologies developed by PalmSource and
ACCESS' Linux expertise," said Toru Arakawa, president and CEO of
ACCESS, Co., Ltd. "As a commercial-grade, flexible, open, robust and
standards-based mobile Linux based platform, ALP is designed to provide
handset manufacturers with faster time-to-market while supporting the
goal of operators to offer revenue-generating services, applications
and content."
ACCESS Linux Platform
An open and flexible software platform - Major components of ALP include:
- Standard, commercial-grade Linux kernel - version 2.6.12 and above
- Optimized implementation of GIMP ToolKit (GTK+) - popular open source libraries for the creation of graphical user interfaces
- GStreamer - an open source, modular and multi-threaded streaming media framework
- SQLite - a high-performance database engine commonly used in embedded devices
Where
appropriate, open source components used in ALP are extended and
certified by the Company. For example, ACCESS and PalmSource will
enhance and certify the open source BlueZ libraries to provide ALP with
a Bluetooth? 2.0 technology compliant software stack.
A number of ACCESS and PalmSource technologies have been incorporated into ALP, including:
- ACCESS NetFrontT browser - a proven success with over 200 million deployments in 721 commercial
products for more than 30 handset and 90 Internet device manufacturers
worldwide
- PalmSource messaging and telephony middleware - a highly modular and scalable implementation
- PalmSource mobile applications including PIMs, multimedia, messaging, PalmSource HotSync? and Palm Desktop - includes the recognized ease-of-use that users expect
By
combining ACCESS' robust NetFront browser platform, its extensive
business relationships with over 30 handset vendors and Linux expertise
with PalmSource's advanced operating system, application portfolio,
user interface and developer community, the Company believes that ALP
will provide the market with a comprehensive yet flexible and
integrated commercial-grade Linux based solution for the mobile market.
Accelerating innovation - ALP features MAX, an innovative application framework designed by
ACCESS and PalmSource to deliver an intuitive, easy-to-use user
experience and user interface for smartphones and mobile devices. MAX
will seamlessly support the concurrent operation of multiple
applications and tasks. It will also provide easy access to background
tasks. Designed to deliver a predictable and intuitive navigation model
for both one- and two-handed user interface schemes, the MAX framework
offers the flexibility to support five-way navigation and two dedicated
keys, as well as touch-screen and stylus input mechanisms.
Enabling customization -
In addition to the MAX application framework, ALP is designed to
support the existing Palm PoweredT Economy, the J2ME developer
community and the open source community. This flexibility in choosing
application models and user experiences enables handset manufacturers
and operators to customize their offerings.
Providing new opportunities for developers - The mobile Linux market is expected to grow from shipments of 3.5
million in 2005 to 28.1 million by 2010, according to the industry
analyst firm Informa*. This presents new opportunities for both Palm
OS? and Linux third-party developers. ALP has been designed to ensure
that properly written Palm OS 68K applications will run unchanged. We
believe that this compatibility will enable PalmSource's robust
community of over 420,000 registered developers to potentially reach
new customers and markets.
In addition, ALP, because it includes open source
components including GTK and GStreamer, can support a wide variety of
third party Linux applications and services. ACCESS and PalmSource plan
to provide the developer community with development tools and SDKs to
enable them to port existing applications and develop new applications
for ALP.
Building a Mobile Linux Ecosystem -
Much like PalmSource gave rise to the Palm Powered Economy, ACCESS and
PalmSource are focused on enriching the broader Mobile Linux Ecosystem.
The first step in this mission is to make ALP is the most service-ready
platform for smartphones and mobile devices by providing leading mobile
operators the opportunity to collaborate with ACCESS and PalmSource and
integrate their feedback and requirements into the ALP development
efforts. Secondly, ACCESS and PalmSource will work closely with leading
developers to optimize their applications to run on the ALP platform.
We believe that doing these things will help build and grow a robust
mobile Linux ecosystem that benefits developers, operators and handset
manufacturers while providing end users with a wide range of
applications to meet the needs of a diverse range of industries and
consumers.
Contributing to the Open Source Community - ACCESS and PalmSource have contributed Open Binder, a component
object framework, similar in general concept to DCOM and CORBA, but
better scaled for use on small devices. Open Binder provides a unique
inter-process communication (IPC) paradigm implemented as a
kernel-loadable driver, and incorporates a broad range of programmatic
utility classes and frameworks. PalmSource and ACCESS have released the
Binder driver and its associated frameworks to the open source
community. For more information, see www.openbinder.org.
Industry Support for ACCESS Linux Platform
"The
Linux Phone Standards (LiPS) Forum is dedicated toward specifying an
application development environment for Linux based mobile, fixed and
convergence phones that will enable developers to write applications
and have them run on any LiPS compliant phone profile," said Haila Wang, president and chairman of LiPS.
"PalmSource/ACCESS is a leading contributor to LiPS and its new ACCESS
Linux Platform embraces this philosophy. This approach will help
handset makers and operators to bring phones to the market more quickly
and at lower cost."
"The mobile Linux market has great potential and
delivers benefits to all market participants - from ISVs to device
manufacturers to the mobile user, " said Stuart Cohen, CEO of Open Source Development Labs (OSDL),
the global consortium dedicated to accelerating the adoption of Linux.
"An offering, such as the ACCESS Linux Platform, that incorporates and
supports mobile Linux standards, can only help foster the growth of
this market. PalmSource is doing very important work with mobile Linux
and its participation in OSDL's Mobile Linux Initiative is a great
asset to the marketplace."
"Freescale is seeing significant interest for
Linux-based solutions to complement our MXC platforms-part of
Freescale's portfolio of comprehensive solutions for mobile phones,"
said Findlay Shearer, cellular platform marketing manager, Freescale Semiconductor.
The introduction of the ACCESS Linux Platform further accelerates the
availability of commercial grade Linux offerings for the high-growth
mobile market"
"As an industry leader in supporting
Linux-based platforms, Intel is pleased to see another industry
proof-point for the growing demand for Linux-based solutions in the
mobile phone market segment," said Mark Casey, general manager, Applications Processor Business Unit for the Handheld Platform Group, Intel Corporation.
"Intel looks forward to our continuing relationship with PalmSource and
ACCESS to deliver solutions for next generation Intel XScale?
processor-based devices."
"As the largest provider of software
distribution solutions to the Palm Powered Economy, Motricity is
excited about the opportunities that the ACCESS Linux Platform will
provide for applications developers and consumers," said Larry Wallace, vice president of business development for Motricity.
"The open software platform will provide increased opportunities for
content providers to innovate and expand the possibilities that mobile
computing provide for consumers and enterprise customers."
"NEC Electronics offers platformOViA (Open, Value
Interface for your Applications) semiconductor solution platform, which
enables set manufacturers to significantly reduce development times for
new products. PlatformOViA allows customers to build a platform
framework optimized for a variety of product-lines such as mobile,
automotive and digital consumer electronics, inducing maximum
performance of System LSI (NEC's technology that puts an entire system
on a single silicon chip)," said Seiji Mitsuoka, Vice President, System Software Development Operations Unit, NEC Electronics Corporation.
"ACCESS Linux Platform has an important role for platformOViA in the
mobile phone market and will enable us to further offer high-quality
solutions."
"NTT DoCoMo has been a pioneer in the Linux mobile
phone market since it began shipping the Linux-based FOMA 3G handset.
To date, millions of the FOMA 3G handsets have been shipped, which we
believe demonstrates the strength and potential of the Linux-mobile
phone market," said Dr. Kiyohito Nagata, Ph.D., vice president and managing director, Product and Service Division, NTT DoCoMo.
"We are excited about the ACCESS Linux Platform and expect ACCESS and
PalmSource to lead further development of the Linux-based phone and
application market."
"Samsung is looking carefully at the ACCESS Linux
Platform powered by PalmSource. We hope that customers can enjoy an
enhanced multimedia experience through flexible and open Linux
operating systems," stated Kitae Lee, president of Telecommunication Network Business of Samsung Electronics.
"We will adapt the advanced technology faster than any others and keep
providing customers with a variety of choices of technologies."
From Telefonica Moviles Espa?a: "At Telefonica Moviles Espa?a we are always looking for innovative solutions that enable us to more
effectively deliver new customized operator services. It benefits not
only the industry, but also our customers. We support the openness,
flexibility and ability for customization that the ACCESS Linux
Platform will provide."
"Texas Instruments (TI) is committed to
driving wireless innovation and enabling new market opportunities
through support for mobile Linux," said Markus Tremmel, worldwide manager of TI's Cellular System Ecosystem.
"We welcome the ACCESS Linux Platform as it provides a complete
ecosystem of solutions for our OMAPTM platform customers to leverage
and allows development costs to be spread over a broad portfolio of
mobile devices."
"Wind River shares ACCESS' commitment to
helping handset manufacturers and operators provide their customers
with a powerful, easy-to-use mobile phone," said Kevin Curry, strategic alliance manager at Wind River.
"We believe that the ACCESS Linux Platform is a natural extension to
Wind River's device software platform and development suite offe
About ACCESS
ACCESS is a global provider of Internet technologies to the mobile and
beyond-PC markets. Its NetFront browser, widely recognized as one of
the most advanced Internet browsers in the world, is a cornerstone to
the company's vision of enabling Internet access anywhere and on any
device. NetFront technologies are delivering full Internet browsing and
related services to next-generation mobile devices and consumer
electronics ranging from digital TV to automobile telematics. For more
information: www.access.co.jp or www.access-us-inc.com.
About PalmSource, Inc.
PalmSource, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of ACCESS Co., Ltd, is the
Company behind Palm OS?, a leading operating system powering mobile
devices and phones. PalmSource's products include a wide range of
software for mobile phones at all price points. More than 40 million
mobile phones, handhelds, and other mobile devices run PalmSource
software. PalmSource and Palm OS have given rise to a large community
of users, enterprises, developers and manufacturers, who together make
up the Palm PoweredT Economy. More information about PalmSource is
available at www.palmsource.com, www.palmsource.co.uk , www.palmsource.fr, www.palmsource.de, www.palmsource.com/es and www.palmsource.com.cn.
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