QNX(R), Espial Group Team Up to Deliver PersonalJava(TM) Suite For Information Appliances

Ottawa (PROTEXT) - News at a Glance ... - New alliance combines 'bullet proof' OS technology with full complement of PersonalJava tools and applications. - Suite includes world's smallest full-featured PersonalJava web browser. - Tools and GUI components give appliance manufacturers full control over brand identity. QNX Software Systems Ltd. and Espial Group Inc. today announced a marketing alliance to provide consumer appliance manufacturers with a production-ready PersonalJava solution for set-top boxes, web phones, PDAs, hand-held computers, and a variety of other networked devices. The solution includes a comprehensive suite of visual design tools, user interface components, platform products, product APIs, PIM capabilities, and Internet applications -- including Espial Escape(TM), the world's smallest full-featured PersonalJava web browser. "Like the QNX Realtime OS, the Espial product suite is small, proven, and highly customizable," said Jaison Dolvane, president of Espial Group. "Appliance manufacturers can change the look and feel, and create their own brand image, with virtually no constraints. In fact, since most of the functionality for something like a set-top box is already provided and ready to customize, manufacturers can work on differentiating their products from day one." "Device manufacturers wishing to deploy PersonalJava applications in their information appliances can now use the same 'bullet proof' QNX OS technology proven in everything from life-critical medical instruments to high-availability networking equipment," said Linda Campbell, vice president of strategic alliances at QNX. "And to understand why that's important, just look at the PDA market: consumers have overwhelmingly chosen the devices with the best reliability record. People simply don't tolerate appliances that crash." Ready-to-customize Information Appliance Suite Small and memory-efficient, Espial applications are designed to handle the diverse visual displays and input devices of information appliances. The applications include Espial Escape, a full-featured web browser with a core footprint of less than 175K; Ebox(TM), an email client; and Espial Assistant(TM), a complete PIM with an address book, calendar, and appointment manager. The browser, which has zoom features for various screen sizes, adds support for JavaScript, SSL, applets, and printing. It can also be extended to support various media types, markup languages (XML, WML, VoxML, ...), and scripting languages. Future versions will add support for HTML 4.0, DHTML, and XML. Platform Products The Espial product suite includes DeviceTop(TM), which incorporates an application launcher, support for remote software upgrades and downloads, input device management, virtual keyboards, a multiple application environment, and user/data rights management. Manufacturers have full control of DeviceTop's look and feel, which they can change on the fly in just seconds. Visual Design Tools To give appliance manufacturers full control over device look and feel, Espial also provides: Kalos(TM) Espresso -- A 100% Pure Java(TM) certified toolkit with a small memory footprint (maximum 175K) and support for diverse visual displays. Includes advanced interface components such as trees, lists, tab panels, tables, word-wrapped editors, and tool tips. Together with DeviceTop, Espresso provides extensive branding capabilities and enables applications to adapt dynamically to the look and feel of the host device. Kalos Architect -- A layout-based user interface builder for consumer devices. Features include onscreen consumer-device layering, JDK1.1 and PersonalJava-compliant code generation and synchronization, portable user-interface file formats for easier collaborative development, and support for creating applets, applications, and reusable components. Availability and Pricing Espial products are available now, directly from Espial Group. The QNX Neutrino Realtime OS and the PersonalJava virtual machine for QNX are available from QNX Software Systems. OEM pricing is available from both Espial Group and QNX Software Systems. About QNX Software Systems Founded in 1980, QNX Software Systems is the industry leader in realtime, microkernel OS technology. The company has established a strong customer base in a variety of industries, including consumer electronics, telecommunications, aerospace, medical instrumentation, process control, point-of-sale, and telephony. QNX products are distributed in over 100 countries worldwide. Visit http://www.qnx.com. About Espial Group Espial Group develops enabling technologies for consumer devices and information appliances. A tightly coupled user interface and software development process ensures the delivery of superb and easy-to-use solutions. This singular vision has propelled Espial Group since its incorporation in 1997. Visit http;//www.espial.com. Reader Information QNX Software Systems -- Tel: 1-800-676-0566 (US/Canada), +44- 0-1223-364503 (UK), +33-1-64-61-81-61 (France), or +49-0-511- 94091-0 (Germany). Fax: +1-613-591-3579. Email: info@qnx.com. Web: http://www.qnx.com. Espial Group -- Tel: 1-800-4-ESPIAL (377425) or +1-613-230- 4770. Email: contact@espial.com. Web: http://www.espial.com. Editorial Contacts (QNX) Mal Raddalgoda (Americas) Tel: +1-613-591-0931 Email: mal@qnx.com Brent Daniel (International) Tel: +1-613-591-0931 Email: brdaniel@qnx.com Barbara Stewart, Patterson & Associates (NA) Tel: (USA) 602-957-4500 Email: barbara@patterson.com Andrea Adam (Germany) Tel: +49-0511-94091-0 Email: aadam@qnx.de Guy Forster, TKO Marketing Consultants (UK, EMA) Tel: +44-1444-250022 Email: guy@tko.co.uk Carine Homsy, Parabole (France) Tel: +33-0-1-53-60-88-88 Email: carineH@parabole.com Editorial Contact (Espial Group) Angie Lynch Tel: 1-888-4-ESPIAL or +1-613-230-4770 Email: alynch@espial.com QNX and Neutrino are registered trademarks of QNX Software Systems Ltd. Espial, Kalos, and DeviceTop are trademarks of Espial Group Inc. Java and all other Java-based trademarks are registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. All other trademarks and registered trademarks belong to their respective holders. Part Number: 301406 ots Original Text Service: QNX Software Systems Ltd. Internet: http://www.newsaktuell.de Contact: QNX Editorial - Americas - Mal Raddalgoda, +1-613-591- 0931, or mal@qnx.com, International - Brent Daniel, +1-613-591- 0931, or brdaniel@qnx.com, NA - Barbara Stewart, Patterson & Associates, (USA) 602-957-4500, or barbara@patterson.com Germany - Andrea Adam, +49-0511-94091-0, or aadam@qnx.de, UK, EMA - Guy Forster, TKO Marketing Consultants, +44-1444-250022, or guy@tko.co.uk, France - Carine Homsy, Parabole, +33-0-1-53-60- 88-88, or carineH@parabole.com; or Espial Group Editorial - Angie Lynch, 1-888-4-ESPIAL, or +1-613-230-4770, alynch@espial.com Web site: http://www.qnx.com Subscribers please note that material bearing the slug "PROTEXT" is not part of CTK's news service and is not to be published under the "CTK" slug. Protext is a commercial service providing distribution of press releases from clients, who are identified in the text of Protext reports and who bear full responsibility for their contents. PROTEXT