Managed Runtime Environments for Next-Generation Mobile Devices
Paul Drews · 2003
The adoption of cellular communications has been one of the fastest growing technology trends in history. Many analysts predict that the demands of our increasingly wireless world will result in the rapid convergence of cellular communications and powerful, handheld computing devices, enabling a wide array of exciting new user experiences. By 2006, the analyst firm Instat/MDR predicts there will be over 760M Internet-enabled mobile devices in use (1), and the ARC Group predicts that by 2007, over 1.7 billion users will utilize wireless data services (2). Intel is a leading building block supplier to this new converged device industry with our Flash memory products, our high-performance Intel XScaleTM mobile application processor family, and our Personal Internet Client Architecture (PCA) for mobile computing devices and handsets. Intel is also developing key technologies that will accelerate the adoption of managed runtime environments (MRTEs) for mobile devices. The industry predicts that the majority of converged devices will include MRTEs (primarily in the form of J2ME and .NET) and because of this, MRTEs are a key component of Intel’s overall mobile industry strategy. This paper describes how MRTEs are important enabling technologies for the future of wireless computing and how they are contributing to the fast delivery of wireless data services. The term “managed runtime environment” as used in this paper refers to new functionality and technologies that extend the capabilities of the first Intel XScaleTM is a trademark of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. ∗ Other brands and names are the property of their respective owners. generation of runtime environments, notably, the Java Virtual Machine and the Microsoft .NET Framework. These first-generation MRTEs need to evolve further to serve the demands of the mobile data market. We also illustrate how PCA is the ideal platform to take full advantage of MRTEs, and we conclude with descriptions of Intel’s R&D to enable the next generation of MRTEs for mobile devices