The use of Java greatly improves the ability of companies to reuse software and deploy them in different hardware environments, explained IS2T CEO Fred Rivard. Since applications run in a virtual environment, Java programs are per se portable. The virtual machine consists of three components: The Operating System (in the case of IS2T a Green Hill RTOS), the Java engine and a garbage collector."As a high-level language, Java offers higher programmer's efficiency compared to C or C++", Rivard said. Application scalability is another argument in favor of Java.

In the case of IS2T, the virtual machine itself is also written in Java. Meeting 'hard' real-time requirements, the system aims at industrial applications, for instance for machine-to-machine communication, home automation and or data acquisition. For automotive applications it is less adequate, Rivard explained. The reason however is not Java inherent but lies in the fact that some elements automotive data infrastructure such as the CAN bus are not apt to realtime requirements.

At the fair, IS2T highlights together with Atmel an integrated Java solution for flash microcontrollers. The Java platform is tailored for Atmel's AVR32 IC3 microcontroller and features a very small footprint of 64 Kbytes of SRAM for Data and 256 Kbytes for flash-based program memory. These data refer to a typical application with graphic LCD display, the company says.

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