Taiwan Vendors Sign With Lucent's Inferno 04/30/97

[NB / HKG by way of hbaker@netcom.com Henry Baker]

TAIPEI, TAIWAN, 1997 APR 30 (NB) -- By Robert Clark. A dozen major Taiwan  
vendors have signed up to make set-top units and other hardware based on 
Lucent Technologies'[NYSE:LU] Inferno operating system. 

Computer giant Acer and communications vendor Tecom, who have already  
Inferno Partners, are among those who have signed with Lucent. 

Taiwan National University Professor Juang Jih-yang, who is designing  
sample applications for Inferno, described it as "a small but powerful 
real-time system" which can work on any kind of device, from a simple 
screenphone to a highly complex telephone exchange. 

It is similar to Java, which can also run on any kind of platform, but  
Juang says Inferno takes up less memory -- about one MB of RAM compared 
with 4MB RAM for Java. Additionally it is secure and has wider 
applications, he said. 

Inferno, like Unix and C++, a product of the Bell Labs Computer team, has  
won positive reviews since it was launched in May last year, but in 
marketing terms is a long way behind Sun's Java. 

Lucent executives say the smaller Inferno can run on "thin clients," thus  
potentially reducing the price points for Internet access devices, 
set-tops and other platforms. 

US computer company JCC has contracted to use Inferno for a set-top  
device to enable the TV screen to be used for Internet access and 
messaging. 

(19970430/Reported By Newsbytes News Network: http://www.newsbytes.com