Rococo

We've been working with IBM, and in particular, their J9 team for many years. As a recap, Rococo's implementation of JSR82 is the preferred JSR82 solution for the J9 Virtual Machine. Of course, I still call them the "J9 team" as I'm an old fogey. IBM calls that stuff the Websphere Everyplace Custom Environment, or WECE, which is of course easier to remember. Not. :-)

Anyway, some years back IBM introduced us to MicroDoc. Based in Munich, they're a specialist in all things embedded, and were IBM's first European Business Partner for everything related to their Embedded Java platform. The MicroDoc team are great people to work with, and have "embedded" in their DNA.

So we're delighted to finally announce, with MicroDoc, the availability of WECE with JSR82 built-in. It's been an annoyance for WECE customers seeking JSR82 to have to get a custom-build of the combined solution, and so ourselves and MicroDoc have created an off-the-shelf version that we think will help customers get up and running faster and more cost-effectively than they could before. We also think it's timely, as we've seen some encouraging increase in demand for applying Bluetooth in WECE-based systems in a variety of industry scenarios.

So from here on out, if you're looking for a "one-stop-shop" for WECE with JSR82, talk to MicroDoc.

http://www.microdoc.com/

Official Press Release follows.

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October 28th 2008, Munich, Germany and Dublin, Ireland

Rococo Software Limited and MicroDoc GmbH have announced the general availability of IBM’s Websphere Everyplace Custom Environment (WECE) Runtime with built-in support for the industry standard Java/Bluetooth APIs (JSR82). MicroDoc, an IBM Global Porting Partner, and Rococo, a leading supplier of Java/Bluetooth technology, have partnered for several years to offer Java/Bluetooth technology to MicroDoc's WECE customers. However, this offering is the first time an "off the shelf" version of WECE has been made available with JSR82 support. This enables companies in the embedded marketplace to take advantage of the JSR82 APIs "out of the box", and create solutions with a lower total cost and lead time to delivery.

"As Java and Bluetooth have become more pervasive in the embedded marketplace, we have seen more demand for WECE with Bluetooth support as standard" said Hans Kamutzki, ceo of MicroDoc. "Often there's a lead-time to create a custom version of the JVM that can meet their needs, especially with Bluetooth" he said, "with this release, they can get up and running much more quickly, and at a lower overall cost for their solution".

Microdoc supports cross industry embedded Java users with customized VMs. MicroDoc products are sold in particular in the automotive sector, in transport and logistics, telecommunications and in the consumer market.

"We've worked with WECE and MicroDoc for many years", said Sean O Sullivan, CTO with Rococo. "There's been a steady increase in interest in the embedded Java platform, especially in the automotive, transport and machine-to-machine markets. We're delighted to have joined forces with MicroDoc to offer a shrinkwrap solution to these markets, and we look forward to continuing to enhance the JSR82 offering with richer APIs to reduce development time and enable the full power of Bluetooth to be harnessed in a variety of scenarios".

Rococo (www.rococosoft.com) was one of the original members of the JSR82 Expert Group, which defined JSR82, and has shipped its JSR82 implementation on over a hundred million mobile phones to date. Rococo also offers development tools to enable rapid the creation of Bluetooth applications in Java.

MicroDoc is a leading ISV, systems integrator and long term IBM partner located in Germany. Founded in 1991, MicroDoc has specialized in object oriented software technologies and provides software and services to a variety of markets. MicroDoc was the first European business partner for IBM’s embedded Java platform and offers customizing, platform ports, distribution and licensing for the IBM embedded product range. MicroDoc supports a variety of Open Source software products (in particular Linux) and is an active member of the Eclipse Foundation.

Contact:

Volker Höfer
vho@microdoc.com
+49-89-551 9690

Adrienne Wolfe
awolfe@rococosoft.com
+353 1 4877617

Posted by Sean at 02:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We've been busy at Rococo with a few new projects, some of which are finally beginning to see the light of day. For those of you asking about a Simulator that works with Android - you'll have to wait another few weeks :-(

However, we've been doing some work on both Windows (XP, Vista) and Windows Mobile. Today we're releasing a 1.0 version of our Impronto DevKit for Windows XP and Vista. As you may know, in the past, we've been grumbling about the missing APIs for L2CAP in the Microsoft Bluetooth Stack. Well, we're still grumbling, but we decided to go ahead and release Impronto, without L2CAP, for WIndows XP and Vista. It passes the JSR82 TCK, apart from the L2CAP elements. All feedback is most welcome! And as usual, the tools are offered free for non-commercial use.

You can request the new version at the Rococo website, here:

http://www.rococosoft.com/registration_impronto.asp

Release notes are here:

http://www.rococosoft.com/DevKitWindowsRelNotes1_0.html

We'll shortly release Impronto for WIndows Mobile also, which *does* have full L2CAP support. This required creating an extension layer for L2CAP in order to provide the full JSR82 functionality and pass the full TCK.

More to follow as we get our new work out the door!

Posted by Sean at 06:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We're users of the Zyb platform/service here at Rococo, and so we were tickled to see it make an acquisition which brought some Bluetooth location-awareness into the fold. Zyb has bought Imity, for an undisclosed amount. The key driver seems to have been to stitch the location-based awareness (aka Pocket Radar) that Imity had implemented in to the Zyb offering.

This usage scenario for Bluetooth (where Bluetooth's location-ness is connected to one or more social networks to tell you something about other people nearby) is now becoming very common, and I'd expect to see it as a standard element of any decent mobile social networking offering within 6-12 months. Imity also brings some very cool crowd-sensing stuff to the party (see their blog for examples).

Good news - we look forward to trying out the newly integrated service when it's been "Zyb'd" and wish everyone involved all the best.

Posted by Sean at 03:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Belated congratulations to our colleagues in Open Interface North America, who have been (quietly) acquired by Qualcomm.

OINA make of the the great Bluetooth Stacks, and have seen some killer product wins for their solution, especially around Audio, in the last few years. Eagle eyed readers of the legal notices on the iPhone will have spotted that it's their stack in there.

We've met a good few of the OINA people over the years, and they're a pleasure to do business with. They're even more of a pleasure to have a pint with :-)

Anyway - congrats to all. Looks like a great fit. We look forward to seeing your stack turn up in many new places and products.

Now if only Qualcomm had a JSR82 solution .... :-)

Posted by Sean at 12:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

CSR released their Q3 results a few days ago. As per last time, they make for interesting reading. Some highlights:

- Attach rates for Bluetooth in handsets heading somewhere between 40-50% in 2007
- CSR market share in headsets is still 80% and expected to remain that way in 2008. Wow.
- Pull-through rate for headsets (as in the percentage of phones that cause a headset to be sold) is 20% and rising
- Design wins for HiFi with Sony and Philips
- Slightly worrying increase in inventory - but not too worrying

All in all - pretty compelling stuff. With their push to ensure they have non-cellular (phone) sources of revenue, plus their move to non-Bluetooth areas (GPS, WiFi), plus their continued leadership within Bluetooth (Ultra Low Power, UWB, etc), they're being very smart about spreading their sources of revenue and seeding new growth segments in the market.

They're also some of the best technical speakers at conferences that you'll ever hear, period :-)

Anyway - stock price is (imho, deservedly) on the up as a result:

Posted by Sean at 12:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Always good to see a partner doing well. Esmertec have bagged Lenovo as a new customer for their Jbed Virtual Machine. Seems the VM is going to be built-in to the new Victory line of mobile phones from Lenovo. And in China, any phone with any market share at all means millions in volume. Good for Esmertec.

Posted by Sean at 04:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Rococo and O2 Ireland worked together to put Rococo's mobile sales software solution into action for United Beverages, the largest wholesale drinks distributor in Ireland. United Beverages uses the software solution to deliver real-time sales and customer information to travelling sales representatives. Find out more about how United Beverages is improving business efficiency with Rococo's mobility solution. www.rococosoft.com

Posted by Sean at 06:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)