By next year, IBM will be shipping custom chips bound for Java applications in small networked devices, the company said today.
Big Blue announced a licensing agreement with Sun to use the "picoJava I" processor design, a specification for chips targeted at consumer electronics, from cell phones to TV set-top boxes to pagers. IBM's imbedded chips for these devices would let equipment manufacturers incorporate native Java capability into their products.
Sun has previously licensed the design to four overseas manufacturers, including NEC and Fujitsu. But this announcement with a US company, Sun said, makes it possible for equipment manufacturers to tailor any product for Java support.
In constrained memory and power environments, the picoJava I "processor core" is designed to run Java applications more efficiently, through the native execution of Java code. In contrast, PCs and other platforms require a translation by a Java Virtual Machine to run Java applications, which slows such applications down.
IBM says the licensing is a component of its network computing strategy, which will make Java-native chips available through its custom chip products for electronics manufacturers. The company expects new classes of network-connected devices to emerge from this strategy, including personal digital assistants, game devices, and global positioning systems.
