Microsoft, Japan Group Team on CE.Net, RTOS Environment

Welcome Guest. | Log In| Register | Membership Benefits

September 25, 2003 (5:47 PM EDT)

Microsoft, Japan Group Team on CE.Net, RTOS Environment

By Yoshiko Hara ,

TOKYO - Microsoft Corp. said it would work with the T-Engine Forum to develop an environment where the T-Kernel real-time operating system works together with Windows CE.Net.

The T-Engine Forum and Microsoft said here Thursday (Sept. 25) they would cooperate in an effort to establish the specifications for building an environment where T-Kernel and Windows CE.Netcan coexist on the T-Engine hardware reference platform.

By combining Windows CE.Net with the Tron-based real-time operating system, Microsoft expects CE.Net to attract designers of applications for cars, digital still cameras, consumer electronics and industrial controls by taking advantage of its user interfaces.

"There is a 'real time' that requires a millisecond-level response in such a domain. Microsoft will continue to promote its own operating systems. But to control hardware, there is another 'real time' that requires a microsecond response. Microsoft will cooperate with T-Engine for such applications," said Susumu "Sam" Furukawa, a Microsoft vice president overseeing advanced strategy and policy.

The T-Kernel real-time operating system evolved from iTron, or industrial The Real-time Operating system Nucleus (TRON). The RTOS is a de facto standard for embedded systems. Ken Sakamura, a professor at the University of Tokyo and chairman of the T-Engine Forum who developed the TRON architecture, said, "about 60 percent of 16-bit MPU based system employ Tron operating systems."

The T-Engine Forum has about 250 members and is promoting an open embedded architecture that includes T-Engine hardware and the T-Kernel operating system.

Microsoft said it would demonstrate prototypes derived from the joint effort at TronShow2004 here from Dec. 11-12.