Be Inc. won some critical support this week with the news that its operating system will power a line of high-end workstations from Hitachi.
Be also is expected to confirm on Monday that it received an additional investment from Intel and other backers, as part of a round of funding that raised US$25 million, a person close to the company said.
The latest version of BeOS, which runs alongside the Windows operating system, was announced on Thursday. It's designed to turn a regular PC into a high-end graphics machine, one that could rival versions from Silicon Graphics and Intergraph costing tens of thousands of dollars, analysts said.
"This is a company that had a near-death experience, was in the grave, they were laid in the ground," said Greg Blatnik, an analyst at Zona Research. "I think they've jumped back out with this Intel investment, and if they have any other deals cooking, that will certainly give them some breathing room."
The latest additions to the operating system include improved interoperability with the Windows OS, such as the ability to use Windows keyboard commands in the BeOS. The BeOS also incorporates advances in streaming media technology, and expanded support for hardware devices like sound cards, video capture boards, and color printer drivers.
"Be has now got what appears to be a very fast, stable OS," said William Peterson, analyst at research firm International Data Corp. The operating system is now easy to install on a regular PC, Peterson said.
The string of announcements could revive enthusiasm for Be, a legendary company that yet has to make a widely used product. The Menlo Park, California, company was founded in 1990 by Jean-Louis Gassee, a former Apple Computer executive. Gassee almost succeeded in selling Be to Apple in 1996, when the computer maker was searching for an operating system to augment its aging Macintosh OS. But he lost out to Steve Jobs, the Apple co-founder who sold Apple on Next Software.
Part of Be's latest strategy includes finding hardware partners to pitch its software.
On Wednesday, Hitachi detailed the release of three new desktop models, which sport both Windows 98 and the Japanese version of the BeOS pre-installed. The computers will be available in early December, the companies said.
The BeOS is geared toward multimedia artists and developers. The software can harness the power of multiple processors to rip through daunting computational tasks.
The operating system will most likely be a niche player, and not necessarily a Microsoft Windows killer, said IDC's Peterson. Be also needs more applications developed for its operating system in order to ensure its success, he said.
