Apogee and MontaVista Announce Advanced Java Tools.

Business Editors/High Tech Writers

LinuxWorld Conference & Expo

CAMPBELL, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 15, 2000

Apogee Aphelion(TM) to target embedded applications with

Hard Hat(TM) Linux and Java2 Micro Edition (J2ME)

Virtual Machines from Sun Microsystems

Apogee Software and MontaVista Software today announced that Apogee's Aphelion, a comprehensive programming environment for developing and deploying Java-based embedded applications, is being ported to IBM Microelectronics' PowerPC(TM) 405GP embedded processors running MontaVista Hard Hat Linux. Ports to NEC's MIPS processors and to several other types of PowerPC processors all running Hard Hat Linux, will follow shortly.

"Apogee's Aphelion provides solutions for most shortcomings that hinder the use of the Java(TM) Platform for embedded systems while preserving and enhancing the strengths that contribute to the Java Platform's remarkable success", said George Malek, CEO of Apogee. "Apogee is very pleased that Aphelion and its ports of Sun's CDC and CLDC J2ME Virtual Machines will soon be available for embedded processors running Hard Hat Linux, the leading Linux-based RTOS that is fast becoming the number one choice of many developers of embedded applications."

"MontaVista is elated that Apogee selected Hard Hat Linux as the first embedded Linux port of Aphelion," said Jim Ready, President and CEO of MontaVista. "The combined strengths of Aphelion and Hard Hat Linux provide a complete, high performance solution to developers of embedded Java applications, and a streamlined path to development and deployment."

Designed for developing many types of embedded applications written in Java or a mix of Java and C/C++, Aphelion offers a comprehensive set of features and capabilities not typically found in Java development environments from other vendors. For example, it includes ahead-of-time optimizers that can create fast and compact bytecode zip files of entire deployment-ready Java applications. And, to further accelerate execution of bytecode zip files, Aphelion provides a special JNM optimizer to compile user-selected performance critical bytecode methods into highly optimized binary JNMs ("Java Native Methods"), each directly executable (after being invoked by Apogee's VM through a special fast interface) on a given target processor.

Aphelion comes with Sun's PersonalJava(TM) and EmbeddedJava(TM) VMs ported by Apogee to popular types of embedded processors and operating systems like Hard Hat Linux and enhanced for high performance. These VMs will gradually be replaced with performance enhanced ports of Sun's new CDC (Connected Device Configuration) and CLDC (Connected Limited Device Configuration) J2ME VMs, upgraded by Apogee to be fully compliant with the Real-Time Specification for Java(TM) (RTSJ) and optionally offered with a new highly deterministic garbage collection technology. This will result in ports of embedded VMs that are suitable for deployment of most hard real-time applications.

To support the entire development of many types of applications and their effective deployment, Aphelion includes not only the programming and debugging tools but also the project management and performance tuning tools. And, each such tool can be controlled through a powerful GUI with a look-and-feel of Microsoft Development Studio GUI, or by UNIX style line commands. The programming and debugging tools include the syntax driven Java/C/C++ editor, Java and C++ class browsers, Java and C/C++ optimizing compilers (including compilers that can compile Java source code or bytecode into native binary code), and bytecode/native code debuggers. The project management tools include the Java/C/C++ project manager and librarian. The performance tuning tools include the bytecode-to-bytecode optimizers (size optimizations of bytecode class files and speed optimizations of bytecode methods), and the unique JNM optimizer.

Availability

The first release of Aphelion, scheduled for Fall 2000, will be hosted on Microsoft Windows cross development platforms, including a graphical IDE, and on Sun /Solaris platforms with command-line interface tools. There will be several target specific configurations of Aphelion, including the configurations targeted at PowerPC, MIPS, and x86 embedded processors running Hard Hat Linux.

About Apogee Software

Founded in 1988, privately held Apogee Software, Inc. specializes in the development of high-quality programming tools for developing Java, C, C++, and Fortran applications. Apogee is located in Campbell Calif., in the heart of the Silicon Valley.

About MontaVista Software

MontaVista Software Inc., founded in 1999 by real-time operating system pioneer Jim Ready delivers open-source software solutions for the worldwide embedded software market. MontaVista's principal offering is the Linux(R) operating system tailored for embedded software applications. MontaVista products include Hard Hat Linux(R), a standard off-the-shelf binary distribution of Linux for x86, PowerPC, StrongARM, MIPS and other microprocessor architectures. Hard Hat Linux offers developers a mix of open source and standard APIs, as well as unique open source solutions for embedded design including the MontaVista real-time scheduler and Hard Hat Net CompactPCI back-plane networking. Hard Hat Linux is supported by a comprehensive tool suite including compilers for C, C++ and other languages; high-level language debuggers; and performance monitoring tools. The company's Subscription Plans also provide Linux support, porting and customization services to customers worldwide. MontaVista headquarters are in Sunnyvale, Calif., in the heart of the Silicon Valley.

Java(tm) and other Java-based trademarks and logos are trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. Aphelion is a trademark of Apogee Software, Inc. Hard Hat is a trademark of MontaVista Software Inc. All other names mentioned are trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks of their respective companies.