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April 13 2006

Sun Microsystems has announced the public availability of the Unified Emulator Interface (UEI) specification.

The UEI specification provides Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and device emulator makers with a free, standard interface for all emulator and tool manufacturers to use for tool-to-emulator and emulator-to-emulator communications. In order to govern and maintain the specification, Sun has created and chairs the UEI Advisory Board consisting of industry leaders in the Java Platform, Micro Edition (Java ME) ecosystem.

By publishing the UEI specification at www.uei.dev.java.net and forming the UEI Advisory Board, the UEI community gains a formal and visible channel for suggesting and securing updates to the specification, ultimately accelerating and expanding mobile application development.

The majority of handset emulations in mobile tools today are written to the UEI specification. By fostering a more aligned and collaborative UEI community, the board strives to increase developer productivity and simplify mobile application development, enabling developers to use any tool with any device emulator.

The UEI specification has already emerged as the de facto standard for tool-to-emulator communication in Java ME development. The new licensing framework agreement will promote more consistent adoption and implementation of the specification. The Board provides a body and process for quickly assessing and scheduling feature requests and assigning reference implementation work. In addition, it provides quick and easy compliance tests to verify industry-wide compatibility.

"As the maker of the award winning NetBeans Mobility Pack and Sun Java Wireless Toolkit, Sun continues to extend its commitment to 'open' with the publication of the UEI specification," noted Alan Brenner, Vice President, Client Systems Group, Sun Microsystems. "Device emulation is critical in mobile application development because of the variety, volume and diversity of mobile devices. By simplifying the mobile application development work flow this board can help increase developer productivity and ultimately accelerate the pace of innovation in the market."

The UEI Advisory Board consists of device manufacturers, software vendors and mobile operators that support third-party developers and license Java ME or deploy Java ME services, as well as tool manufacturers that support Java ME development. Founding members of the board include:


-- Aplix
-- Enough Software
-- Esmertec
-- Nokia
-- Sony Ericsson
-- Sun Microsystems


"Interoperability among Java ME development tools and device emulators allows developers to focus on content and not technical inconsistencies," said Ulf Wretling, Director and Head of Content Planning and Management at Sony Ericsson. "Regardless of development environment preference, UEI provides the means and flexibility to allow developers to leverage innovative features, including on-device debugging, found in the Sony Ericsson SDK for the Java ME Platform."

"The Universal emulator interface enables application developers to plug in a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) emulator that supports UEI into any development environment, and easily run tests for these applications," says Anne-Marie Larkin, Chief Technical Officer of Esmertec. "Our participation in the UEI Advisory Board allows Esmertec to ensure that the interface supports the advanced features of our JVM and, in doing so, shorten the time-to-market of our customers."

As the board evolves it will admit new, qualified members. Interested parties can track the progress of the board, access the UEI specification and make new Requests For Enhancements by visiting www.uei.dev.java.net