Scientific-Atlanta licenses Java
The deal gives the company the rights to distribute Sun's PersonalJava with Scientific-Atlanta's forthcoming digital set-top box.
The deal gives Scientific-Atlanta the rights to distribute PersonalJava, a version of Sun's Java technology slimmed down to run on consumer devices, with its forthcoming digital set-top box, the Explorer 2000.
Set to ship later this year, Explorer 2000 is touted by Scientific-Atlanta as an advanced digital set-top featuring high-throughput two-way communications with interactive applications, Internet support, video-on-demand, home shopping, and IP technology.
In related news, PowerTV , a maker of operating system software for set-top boxes, said today that it will port PersonalJava technology to the PowerTV operating system, a real-time operating system used in Scientific-Atlanta's digital set-tops.
PersonalJava was created specifically for network-connectable consumer devices that people use for communications, entertainment, and mobile computing, such as set-top boxes.
The digital set-top is the "thin client" portion of an overall digital broadband delivery system for interactive applications. To deliver applications, the set-top requires PC-like capabilities with a built-in microprocessor, an operating system, and a scripting language.