TOKYO (09-21-95) - On Monday Toshiba Corp. will announce a broad agreement with Sun Microsystems Inc. that includes plans for the Japanese electronics company to build mobile systems that use Sun's Hot Java Internet browser technology, a top official at Toshiba said today.
The agreement, reached at an annual meeting in Hawaii between the two companies, covers three areas -- rightsizing, the Internet and video-on- demand/information-on-demand (VOD/IOD) systems -- and includes development, distribution and marketing of products targeted at the corporate market, said the official, a member of Toshiba's information and communications systems group who asked not to be named.
"Sun and Toshiba have a historical relationship -- at this moment Toshiba is one of Sun's largest resellers in Japan, while Sun is one our largest component buyers," the official said. "This new agreement will tighten our relationship a step further."
Under the agreement, which calls for an exchange of personnel between the two companies, Toshiba will use its experience in portable systems, semiconductors and LCD screen technology to build a portable unit with which users can remotely access and retrieve information over the Internet, he said. Called an enterprise information retrieval system, it will incorporate the Hot Java browser and Sun's Java Internet programming language and Netra Internet Server, he said.
The agreement will also likely include a plan to develop a VOD/IOD system that runs an unnamed Sun server technology and that incorporates Toshiba servers and technologies including MPEG/2, ATM switching and data storage.
A trial of the system, called Interactive Multimedia Service System (IMSS), will be on display at Telecom '95 next month in Geneva. It is now being tested by a major Japanese retail chain and power utility, according to the official.
The IMSS platform, which uses an interface that includes speech recognition and automatic translation capabilities, allows for processing and management of digitized information and can be used for distance learning, entertainment and other applications, according to Toshiba's Telecom '95 press materials.
Toshiba is also discussing a similar interactive system with Silicon Graphics Inc., the official said.
Under the rightsizing plans, Toshiba and Sun will work together to migrate Toshiba's mainframe-based information system to a distributed environment that uses Sun workstations and servers. The companies hope this will serve as a model for other Japanese companies making similar moves.
As part of an earlier OEM agreement between the two companies, Toshiba will also develop and build systems based on Sun's 64-bit UltraSPARC RISC processor, the official said.
[Copyright 1995 IDG News Service, International Data Group Inc. All rights reserved.]