All indications show that the industry is starting to recover, albeit slowly given the degree to which the high-tech sector was affected by the slowdown. The companies that will see the first significant signs of recovery will be those that serve end markets that have the greatest growth potential and biggest demand for solutions. One is the market for wireless handheld devices.

Users are finding that wireless appliances contain increasing functionality that makes their jobs and their lives easier. Cell phones no longer just handle phone calls; they provide broad-based Internet access and other applications anytime, anyplace. These wireless devices are becoming more like true computing platforms that run applications, including e-mail, multimedia messaging, synchronizing calendars over wireless networks, gaming and downloading music. This market is extremely competitive, with all the providers continually looking to grab greater market share by delivering more applications in a shorter time frame.

Those product-specific improvements combine with the demand from service providers to offer more data/application services on wireless devices so that they can boost their revenues. So, on the design side, when a company like Nazomi addresses the key issues of product developers as well as service providers, a very viable market sector is created.

The viability of the sector exists because of the inherent shortcomings of the essential underlying application technology-Java, the software mainstay of wireless handheld devices. Because Java applications, which are software, run on top of the Java Virtual Machines environment-also software-Java is not an optimally performing environment from the onset. Java performance takes a hit with each application incorporated into a wireless device. Being able to address basic Java functionality by offering SoC and chip implementations that significantly accelerate Java performance without creating further power drains is a plus. Incorporating that technology into existing designs with no major rework required just sweetens the pot.

But this requires a mental shift in terms of how the tech sector, particularly the portion that lives at the design baseline, has traditionally approached the development and deployment of technology. There is no room or need for technology that is looking for a market. Instead, going forward, the companies that will be successful will be those that are addressing a critical market need with readily available and usable technology. In other words, those that provide real solutions that address real problems of a rapidly growing, quickly evolving end-market segment will be the first to succeed.