Palo Alto, CA — (press release excerpt) — Hewlett-Packard Company today introduced HP MicrochaiVM, the micro edition of HP ChaiVM, a Java application environment for intelligent appliances. MicrochaiVM was developed for use in extremely resource-constrained devices such as cell phones, pagers, personal digital assistants and point-of-sale terminals.

Also, HP is working with QUALCOMM to implement HP MicrochaiVM on top of QUALCOMM's Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless (BREW) platform. BREW is an open applications platform for wireless devices that facilitates wireless-Internet convergence. Products developed using BREW allow end users to download applications over the air through their carrier's network to personalize the capabilities of their wireless devices to suit their individual requirements.

MicrochaiVM is compliant with the Connected Limited Device Configuration (CLDC) specification and provides a highly efficient software environment for executing Java applications on various small device operating systems. MicrochaiVM will support the Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP) later this year.

MicrochaiVM has a minimum ROM requirement of 37 KB, with the CLDC implementation requiring less than 128 KB ROM. The small footprint required is complemented by HP's patent pending Chaifreezedry technology, which allows Java applications to run in a concentrated form, reducing the memory required to support the application by up to 90 percent.

The developer's release of MicrochaiVM with CLDC is available today with the commercial release expected to be available in Q2. The commercial release of HP MicrochaiVM with MIDP is expected to be available in Q3. Linux, PalmOS, and PocketPC are the supported platforms. For more information about HP's Chai technology or to download the software for evaluation, visit www.hp.com/go/embedded.

 
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