Taipei, Taiwan, 23 June 2005 - VIA Technologies, Inc. (TSE 2388) and iGoLogic, Inc. today announced the launch of the JBox™, an embedded x86 system based on the VIA EPIA M10000 mainboard for developing Java 2, Standard Edition (J2SE) embedded applications, at the JavaOne conference in San Francisco on 27 June 2005.
The first dedicated hardware and software solution to support the easy and cost-effective development, testing and implementation of J2SE embedded programs on either Solaris or Linux, the JBox™ is pre-loaded with J2SE 5.0 and is ready to run any J2SE-based application straight out of the box.
The JBox™ provides considerable flexibility to developers by offering dedicated configurations for the development of multiple applications that leverage the power and capabilities of the embedded x86 platform. By basing the system on one of the versatile family of VIA EPIA embedded mainboards, the JBox™ development platform is the ultimate volume deployment board, minimizing the risk in migrating code to the target device.
“We are very excited about the launch of this compact and versatile Java development tool, as it will enable us to better engage with the embedded community and provide a compelling reason to make J2SE the first choice for embedded applications,” said Laurie Tolson, Vice President, Java Platform Group, Sun Microsystems, Inc. “VIA’s track record of providing robust embedded platforms and iGoLogic’s intuitive software development and packaging complement the quality and flexibility of Sun’s J2SE product.”
“Our key objective was to make it as easy as possible for embedded Java program developers by providing everything they need to develop, test and implement embedded x86 applications in a single, simple-to-use package,” said Eric Pang, CEO, iGoLogic, Inc. “We are delighted that VIA and Sun shared our vision of reaching out to the embedded developer community, and together we have created a standard development platform that will lower the risk of implementing embedded applications in real world conditions.”
“Without doubt the embedded market is increasingly turning to the x86 architecture for the performance, flexibility and capability boost it provides, so the JBox™, which makes embedded x86 far more accessible to Java developers for the first time, will act as the perfect springboard for this transition for Java applications,” said Richard Brown, Associate Vice President of Marketing, VIA Technologies, Inc. “Moreover, the JBox™ represents the close, highly productive and targeted collaboration between software and hardware vendors that is essential to facilitate innovation on the x86 platform.”
About the JBox™
Measuring just 29.5cm x 27cm x 6.35cm, the JBox™ is an attractive, small footprint chassis designed especially for Java developers, and comes packaged with the robust and flexible Sun J2SE 5.0 pre-loaded. There is a choice of operating systems, either Solaris 10 for x86 or the JDS3 operating system, both with full Sun RTU licensing, or iGoLogic’s customized Linux 2.6.10 kernel, as well as a customized BIOS for the VIA EPIA M10000 mainboard.
The JBox™ is powered by the compact VIA EPIA M10000 Mini-ITX mainboard that features a 1GHz VIA C3 EBGA processor for greater digital media and productivity performance and the VIA CLE266 chipset with embedded MPEG-2 decoder and the integrated UniChrome graphics core for a rich entertainment experience. It also integrates numerous multimedia, storage and connectivity options for enhanced application capabilities, support for 6-channel surround sound through the onboard VIA Vinyl Six-TRAC VT1616 audio and the latest in high-bandwidth IEEE 1394 and USB 2.0 connectivity, as well as S-Video and RCA TV-Out, and 10/100 Fast Ethernet for seamless broadband connectivity.
The JBox™ also comes with a minimum 40GB notebook hard drive, one PCI slot for expandability, front and rear access I/O ports and numerous onboard connectors, and high bandwidth DDR memory from 256MB up to 1GB, depending on customer configuration. Support options are also available for the latest LVDS embedded LCD panels, TTL display modules and optical storage drive.
More information on the JBox™ may be found at the iGoLogic website at: http://www.igojava.com, or on the VIA website at: http://www.via.com.tw/en/company/digital-brilliance/jbox.jsp.
