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COMPUTING

Microsoft takes wraps off Embedded NT

August 11, 1999
Web posted at: 3:20 p.m. EDT (1920 GMT)

by Bob Trott

From...
InfoWorld

(IDG) -- Microsoft has officially moved into the embedded systems market with the release of Windows NT Embedded 4.0, which the company is aiming at retail sales, telecommunications, manufacturing, Internet appliances, and other vertical markets.

NT 4.0 Embedded will be sold as a run-time operating system through OEMs, which will be able to customize the software to fit particular tasks.

It will be sold on a per-seat basis based on four pricing models, two aimed at workstation functionality and two devoted to server functionality. The cheaper models will not include graphical user interfaces, according to Vince Mendillo, lead product manager for NT Embedded.

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In addition to the functionality found in NT 4.0, up to Service Pack 5, the system boasts support for "headless" operation, diskless operation, and remote management.

Also included are two new tools -- Target Designer, an authoring tool for selecting NT platform components, and Component Designer, designed to help developers integrate applications and third-party components, according to Microsoft.

"Developers building embedded devices now have an open, reliable platform from which they can create innovative new solutions and bring them to market faster than ever," Jim Allchin, senior vice president of Microsoft's Platforms Division, said in a statement. "These solutions based on Windows NT Embedded 4.0 will enable customers to streamline and automate processes through the use of a wide range of new intelligent devices."

According to a study by the Gartner Group, Microsoft has taken great pains to ensure that NT Embedded does not "cannibalize" its other operating system products. For example, OEMs cannot use NT Embedded to create file and print-sharing devices -- NT Server's territory -- or multifunction handheld devices, which would compete with Windows CE.

"NT Embedded is licensed as a fixed-function device," Mendillo explained.

The Gartner Group report predicted that 15 percent of embedded systems designs that cost more than $5,000 will include NT Embedded by the end of 2002, and its use will increase to 30 percent by 2005.

Microsoft released a list of companies that have pledged support for the new embedded OS. Included are Advanced Micro Devices, Blue Water Systems, Hewlett-Packard, Lucent Technologies, Compuware, Magellan Network Systems, National Semiconductor, Toshiba, and Siemens Information and Communications Products.

Mendillo said Microsoft plans to release an upgrade to NT 4.0 Embedded nine to 10 months after the debut of Windows 2000, NT 4.0's successor; Microsoft hopes to ship Windows 2000 by the end of 1999. That version will hold appeal for OEMs because it will work with Windows 2000's Active Directory, Mendillo said.

Bob Trott is InfoWorld's Seattle bureau chief.


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