Press Release

September 14, 1999

14 Septemeber 1999 - Wind River Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:WIND), the leader in embedded development software and services for the post-PC era, and Espial Group, the leader in embedded Java™ technology, today announced a unique strategic alliance that creates the industry's only one-stop software solution for building next-generation PersonalJava™ technology-based Internet appliances and makes Wind River Espial's preferred real-time operating system (RTOS) partner. A primary component of the partnership is a series of fully integrated Personal JWorks™ development kits, available now from Wind River. The Personal JWorks Kits combine Espial's industry-leading Java technology-based tools with Wind River's marketshare-leading embedded development software.

With the emergence of the post-PC era, the number of specialized Internet appliances is expected to increase from approximately 15 million units being shipped today to over 55 million units by the year 2002 (International Data Corporation). To capture this rapidly growing market, Wind River and Espial are cooperating closely to give developers an easy-to-access solution to help reduce time-to-market and deliver unique products that will appeal to a growing consumer base. Wind River's VxWorks® RTOS, Tornado™ development platform, and Personal JWorks implementation of Java technology have been integrated with Espial's Espial™ Architect Java technology-based embedded rapid application development tools and Internet Application Suite, which includes Espial Escape web browser, Espial Ebox email client, and Espial Assistant Personal Information Manager.

Personal JWorks Kits – Complete Java Solutions

The three Personal JWorks Kits resulting from this strategic agreement provide complete development, deployment, and content solutions for many specific types of Java applications.

• Personal JWorks Starter Kit delivers a port of the PersonalJava 3.0 API to the VxWorks RTOS and includes Wind River's UGL graphics stack. This kit provides the capability to run PersonalJava compatible code on an embedded device powered by the VxWorks RTOS.
• Personal JWorks Application Platform Kit extends the functionality of the Starter Kit by adding Espial™ Espresso, a full-featured, small memory footprint graphical user interface (GUI) toolkit and Espial Devicetop™, a multi-application environment and service delivery platform that can launch applications, remotely upgrade software, and support various input devices and enable device services. The Personal JWorks Application Platform Kit includes everything needed for building a rich user interface for any device running multiple applications.
• Personal JWorks Internet Appliance Kit provides a complete, out-of-box solution for building Internet Appliances. The Personal JWorks Internet Appliance Kit extends the functionality of the Application Platform Kit by providing a complete suite of highly customizable Internet applications: Espial Escape, a small memory footprint full-featured PersonalJava Web browser; Espial Ebox, a small standards-based email client; and Espial Assistant, a Personal Information Manager (PIM). With Personal JWorks Internet Appliance Kit, the complete software stack required for building an Internet appliance fits in less than 3 megabytes of memory.

Wind River also delivers a set of specialized development tools that allow OEMs to quickly develop and optimize devices utilizing all of the Personal JWorks Kits.

• TurboJ Ahead of Time Compiler optimizes performance of Java applications up to 10 times without additional dynamic memory requirements in the embedded device.
• Espial™ Architect provides a rapid application development tool environment for efficiently creating GUIs and customizations for the Personal JWorks Kits – even before any prototype hardware is available.

"With more Java technology-based embedded applications running on Wind River software than any other, we clearly have a winning solution for developers," said Curt Schacker, vice president of marketing and corporate development, Wind River Systems. "One of our goals at Wind River is to continuously offer better and more complete solutions. The strategic relationship with Espial and integration of Espial's products with our own allows us to expand our Java-based solutions and give embedded developers a jump ahead in their development cycle. By purchasing a Personal JWorks Kit, developers are assured that the integration will run seamlessly and will save them precious time by not having to personally integrate the necessary individual software pieces from several vendors."

"Espial's goal is to provide industry-leading enabling technologies for Java-based information appliances while giving our customers an edge by helping them to significantly decrease their development cycle," said Jaison Dolvane, president, Espial Group. "Through our alliance with Wind River, we are confident that our products will reach the widest array of developers possible. The integration of products from Espial and Wind River ties together everything required to build sophisticated Java-based devices, including Internet appliances – low level systems, RTOS, Personal Java, application environment, GUI toolkit, and customizable Internet applications. By providing them with a complete solution through a single source, device manufacturers can significantly reduce their development time and develop a complete Internet Appliance in less than six months."

"As a developer of next-generation Internet appliances, we need to produce unique, leading-edge products and get them to market quickly in order to be successful," said Kenneth East, chief operating officer/chief technical officer, Boundless Technologies, Inc. "We initially chose software from both Wind River and Espial for our iBrow™ Internet appliance, slated for fourth quarter shipment, because it offered the best fit for our needs. The VxWorks operating system and the integrated Personal JWorks tools provide a superior Java solution for embedded development. Together with Espial's industry-leading products, we were able to complete that solution and have everything necessary to build a leading-edge device. The fact that developers can now purchase products from both companies as a single package, from a single source, is a real advantage. It saves critical time and we know that the products will work seamlessly together."

Wind River Systems, Inc.

Wind River Systems, Inc. is the worldwide leader in embedded software. Wind River provides software development tools, real-time operating systems, and advanced connectivity for use in products throughout the Internet, telecommunications and data communications, digital imaging, networking, medical, computer peripherals, automotive, and aerospace/defense markets. Wind River is how smart things think. Founded in 1983, Wind River is headquartered in Alameda, California, with operations in fifteen countries worldwide.