Sun Microsystems Inc. acquired wireless Java downloading company Pixo Inc. for an undisclosed sum, a move the company said will give it yet another spot on the value chain.
“We’re trying to address everyone,” said Jennifer Hom, marketing manager with Sun’s software systems business.
Through the deal, Sun adds Java application provisioning technology to its lineup of software, hardware and services for sale to carriers. The move helps to flesh out Sun’s place in the Java market in wireless.
“The next piece is really provisioning,” said Eric Chu, Sun’s group manager for Java.
As the company behind the Java 2 Micro Edition technology, which is rapidly gaining steam in the wireless industry, Sun enjoys a commanding view of the market. First, the company licenses out J2ME technology to mobile-phone makers, and also offers engineering services to integrate Java into the handset. On the carrier side, Sun offers a range of servers, gateways and middleware. Indeed, much of the software Openwave Systems Inc. sells to wireless carriers includes Sun technology. Sun also deals with wireless developers, offering tool kits and development programs as well as the recently announced unified application certification program.
With the Pixo acquisition, Sun is also positioning itself in another part of the wireless ecosystem, offering to carriers provisioning technology that allows users to locate, purchase and download Java applications over the air. Sun said it would use Pixo’s technology to offer a variety of new Java functions. For example, Sun said network operators will be able to know what type of game to recommend to an end user based on previous downloads or can notify customers of the availability of a new level of a previously downloaded game. Pixo counts Canadian carrier Bell Mobility as a customer, and European content company End2End licenses Pixo’s server. Hewlett-Packard Co. and Siemens resell the product.
Sun said it plans to sell Pixo’s provisioning technology as part of its Project Orion platform, which is an effort to combine all of Sun’s various software offerings under its regularly updated Solaris operating system.
Sun faces several significant challengers in the provisioning area. Motorola Inc. entered the market last year through its acquisition of 4thpass Inc., as did Openwave through its purchase of Ellipsus Systems. Mobilitec Inc. also offers Java provisioning technology.
Beyond the wireless carrier market, Sun said it expects to offer Java provisioning services to enterprises, telematics companies and set-top boxes.
In other Java news, an appeals court overturned a ruling that would have required Microsoft Corp. to include Sun’s Java technology in its Windows desktop operating system.
