(February 18, 2003) - Kada Systems plans to offer a J2ME-based integration design for mobile devices that will change how mobile handsets are brought to market. Code-named "Katahdin," it will allow mobile original device manufacturers (ODMs) to quickly develop new devices by providing a highly configurable software "backplane" that custom components can easily be plugged into with little modification. It also enables ODMs to offer highly differentiated mobile devices and product lines to meet the demands of rapidly segmenting user and geographic markets without starting from scratch for each new product.

Today a device manufacturer with multiple product lines typically specifies each line with its own OS, unique drivers, user interface capabilities and native Java virtual machine implementation. Katahdin, a software-based silicon and operating system independent device integration platform, will help device manufacturers rapidly assemble their own mobile platforms from commercially available and internally developed components. In addition, many of the Katahdin components will be reusable, lowering development costs while enabling the ODM to retain existing software infrastructure. Katahdin will benefit handset ODMs who manufacture between one and 20 million devices per year. This includes the emerging breed of device manufacturers that rely on first-generation mobile reference platforms, such as those provided by Kada, and those vendors with more sophisticated software design capabilities.

The company has taken the first steps in delivering on Katahdin with its delivery of a fully optimized and compliant reference implementation of the J2ME specification that is ready to port and optimize on target platforms. Texas Instruments (TI) and other mobile device manufacturers have adopted this platform. With these J2ME relationships in place, Kada will deliver the full implementation of Katahdin by the end of 2003.

Katahdin is a highly configurable reference design for mobile devices that shields both Java and platform specific applications and device drivers from the operating system and associated libraries. The Katahdin design provides APIs and software runtime components that implement an API integration layer and a set of device driver abstraction layers. This software "backplane" will allow developers to quickly plug in new features on top of a standard set of device characteristics, develop new form factors and scale to new operating systems, all without modifying the software base.

Katahdin will support software components from industry standard operating systems, APIs, device drivers and applications. It will also support widely deployed hardware standards for the infrastructure, wireless and user interfaces, such as keyboards and voice codecs. Additionally it will work with other mobile platforms including TI's Wireless software foundation, Qualcomm's Brew platform, Palm, and the Symbian and .NET operating systems.