Access Co. Ltd. today announced that it has placed a free
demonstration version of its NetFront Internet browser on its web site for evaluation by developers of Linux-based embedded applications. The browser can be downloaded from the company's website.

Access' NetFront and Compact-NetFront browsers are very popular in Japan, where Access estimates that it has over 80% of the embedded browser market for devices such as personal digital assistants, mobile phones, digital televisions and video game consoles. Access is now trying to expand its leadership in the development of embedded browsers into the US and European markets, and it is one of the first companies to release such a full fledged version of a browser for the Linux platform. Access is working with major RTOS vendors to enable complete solutions packages for device manufacturers.

“We believe that Linux will become a significant platform for embedded device manufacturers in the near future,” stated Toru Arakawa, CEO and president of Access. “We're excited about our efforts to test this market with this free downloadable demonstration version. We look forward to getting good feedback and bringing a high quality product to market later in the year.”

This demonstration version of “NetFront 2.5 for Linux/GTK” supports HTML 3.2, a portion of HTM 4.0, frames, cookies, Javascript, bookmarks, screen resizing, SSL 2.0/3.0, and PNG graphics. It operates under Linux 2.0.23 or later, with support for glibc 2.0 or 2.1, GTK+ 1.2, and zlib 1.1.

“NetFront 2.5 for Linux/GTK” also operates under Linux with Access' JV-Lite 1.3.1 clean-room compatible Java Virtual Machine (VM) plug-in module. NetFront operates in resource-constrained environments on a wide variety of embedded CPUs, such as ARM cores, Hitachi's SuperH series, IBM/Motorola's PowerPC, MIPS Cores, and Mitsubishi's M32R/D series. It also runs on various
RTOS including ITRON, Linux, OS-9, pSOSystem, VxWorks, Windows CE, and others.

Depending on market feedback, Access will release the productized version of “NetFront for Linux” during the second half of 2000. Pricing and exact availability have not yet been determined.

About Access Co., Ltd.

Access Co. Ltd., is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, with Access Systems America, a US subsidiary, in Milpitas, Calif. Access is the top provider of embedded software solutions for information appliances in Japan, and its software powers a wide variety of Internet appliances including: i-Mode phones for NTT DoCoMo; Sega's Dreamcast(TM) home game machines; Internet TV from Sharp and Mitsubishi; the Mulco(TM) set top box from NEC; integrated word processors from Casio, Fujitsu, NEC and Sharp; personal digital assistants from Casio, Fujitsu and Sharp; intranet terminals from Epson, Komatsu and Okamura; and network adapters and print servers. Over four million software licenses have been shipped and adopted by more than 30 major consumer appliance makers.

 
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