Thursday, 27 July 2006

Top Tech Companies Pledge Royalty-free Patents for Java Phone Updates

Five technology companies and the OSGi Alliance have announced that they will pledge royalty-free access to necessary patents that can speed the adoption of OSGi technology worldwide.

The technology creates a service-oriented, component-based environment for developers and provides standardised ways to manage the software lifecycle. These capabilities greatly increase the value of a wide range of computers and devices that use the Java platform. The team includes the OSGi Alliance itself as well as OSGi members Gatespace Telematics, IBM, Nokia, ProSyst Software and Samsung.

The OSGi Alliance brings together technologists and business experts dedicated to developing and promoting open, industry-standardised solutions to address fundamental new challenges and opportunities posed by a networked world.

In a news release Nokia said that, the six organisations want to spur innovation among software developers by pledging royalty-free access to any of their patents necessary for the implementation of OSGi Service Platform Release 4.

It spans digital mobile phones, vehicles, embedded appliances, residential gateways, industrial computers, desktop PCs, and, most recently, high-end servers, including mainframes.