Sun Microsystems and ARM To Deliver High-Performance, Pre-Integrated Java Solutions For Mobile Devices

Sun and ARM will also streamline access to the integrated product by establishing one single distribution source through Sun, thereby improving integration efficiency and reducing time-to-market for handset manufacturers and carriers. The integrated product will be distributed by Sun; commercial deployment of the integrated product will be subject to the separate licensing terms of Sun and ARM respectively.

ARM and Sun will jointly optimize and integrate software that enables the widely deployed ARM® Jazelle® hardware acceleration technology into Sun’s Connected Limited Device Configuration HotSpot™ Implementation (CLDC HI), a market-leading optimized Java Virtual Machine for resource-constrained mobile devices. The integrated product is expected to increase application execution speed and reduce application startup time by up to 50% compared to the current version of CLDC HI; other enhancements will enable increased efficiency in power and memory consumption. These new enhancements will help reduce costs for handset manufacturers and carriers while providing a better mobile experience to consumers running applications such as video streaming, multi-player and advanced imaging applications.

“Java technology continues to drive adoption of mobile data services, and is expected to reach 1.5 billion consumers by 2007,” said Alan Brenner, vice president, Consumer and Mobile Systems Group of Sun Microsystems. “Through our collaboration with ARM, handset manufacturers and carriers will not only benefit from a high-performance, pre-tuned Java implementation that is supported by both Sun and ARM, but will also gain from significantly increased efficiency and reduced cost and complexity in integrating and deploying Java technology-enabled mobile handsets.”

Jazelle hardware acceleration technology is an integral part of the ARM portfolio of application processor designs. This latest agreement with Sun continues the rapid expansion in support for Jazelle hardware, and will contribute to bringing significant performance enhancements to the large number of Sun CLDC-HI licensees.

“We are seeing extremely high, worldwide deployment of Jazelle technology-enabled cores, leading to a significant increase in Java performance on a wide range of embedded devices,” said Mike Inglis, executive vice president of Marketing, ARM. “By integrating optimized hardware and software for mobile Java devices, we are improving users’ experiences while increasing return on investment for handset manufacturers and network operators.”

Sun’s CLDC HI customers will be able to integrate, test, and benchmark the integrated product with Jazelle capabilities out of the box. Handset manufacturers and carriers can choose to deploy a software-only solution using CLDC HI alone, or an integrated solution combining CLDC HI and Jazelle technologies.

Sun plans to ship CLDC HI integrated with Jazelle technology-enabling software in Q4 of 2004.