A long way from American shores, Java finally has a set-top box all to itself.
Today, Sun Microsystems (SUNW) announced that Hitachi would use Sun's JavaOS operating system in a new set-top box. The Japanese company plans to use the system in 30,000 set-top boxes to be sold in that country. By the end of 1999, Hitachi says, it plans to ship 200,000 of the boxes.
"We chose Sun's JavaOS software as the base operating system because it allows fast and easy downloading of new network-based services on demand," said Shigehiro Tomita, general manager of Hitachi's space systems division. "Also, JavaOS software is available today, allowing Hitachi to roll out these new set-top boxes right away."
Sun portrayed the move as proof of Java's early inroads into the set-top market. "The Java platform is quickly becoming the global standard for consumer devices, such as set-top boxes," said Sun's Mark Tolliver, president of consumer and embedded systems. He cited time-to-market advantages and said a Java-based OS was particularly well-suited for networked devices.
Yet the news is actually a strategic first for Java as a set-top operating system. Though Sun's language has been part of the set-top box plans of Tele-Communications Inc. (TCOMA) and General Instrument (GIC), it has so far been cast only in a supporting role.
In General Instrument boxes, plans call for a Java layer, in the form of PersonalJava, to take its place atop underlying operating systems. General Instrument will use Microsoft's Windows CE and PowerTV as operating systems for future boxes, which include the ones TCI plans to order from the company. These other operating systems would provide the boxes' primary functionality, while Java applications would call on the PersonalJava layer as needed.
But depending on the memory and cost overhead of the box's final design, PersonalJava may have to be excluded from some boxes to keep costs down and memory from being overtaxed.
Thus, when Sun announced the JavaOS for Consumers in March, the company declared its intention of competing directly in the set-top market as an operating system, and not merely as a Java layer that would have to be incorporated alongside the core software. With today's announcement, Sun can point to actual deployment in a key role on the set-top.
That contrasts with Windows CE, which has yet to be deployed in specific boxes. TCI has committed itself to ordering at least 5 million set-top boxes based on that operating system during the next four years. But the release date of Windows CE for the set-top remains vague. In April, Microsoft said that it would retool the operating system to make it more suitable for specialized computing products, which would include set-top boxes. Redmond said it would be bolstering Windows CE's real-time functions.
The companies said Hitachi's new box will deliver networked information services that will be "dynamically" downloaded to the boxes via Japanese satellite channels. They cited examples of interactive distance learning, news, medical information, and even "welfare support."
