IBM READIES NEW TV SET-TOPS FOR OEM MARKET.

IBM Corp in Japan is developing new digital television set-top boxes based on Microware Systems Corp's OS-9 real-time operating system (RTOS). IBM plans to offer the devices on an OEM basis both in Japan and worldwide. There are two versions of the device, one for digital broadcast satellite systems and another for digital cable systems. The products were shown at the recent IBM product fair in Tokyo. IBM is currently working ion a PowerPC 603e version that will support PersonalJava to upgrade from the current PowerPC 403 version, that does not support Java. The slim box will feature an electronic program guide together with other Java applet and XML-based services. Specifically it uses Microware's digital audio/video interactive decoder (David) technology.