A dozen major Taiwan vendors have signed up to make set-top units and other hardware based on Lucent Technologies'[NYSE:LU] Inferno operating system.

Computer giant Acer and communications vendor Tecom, are among those who have signed with Lucent.

Taiwan National University Professor Juang Jih-yang, who is designing sample applications for Inferno, described it as "a small but powerful real-time system" which can work on any kind of device, from a simple screenphone to a highly complex telephone exchange.

It is similar to Java, which can also run on any kind of platform, but Juang says Inferno takes up less memory -- about one MB of RAM compared with 4MB RAM for Java. Additionally it is secure and has wider applications, he said.

Inferno, like Unix and C++, a product of the Bell Labs Computer team, has won positive reviews since it was launched in May last year, but in marketing terms is a long way behind Sun's Java.

Lucent executives say the smaller Inferno can run on "thin clients," thus potentially reducing the price points for Internet access devices, set-tops and other platforms.

US computer company JCC has contracted to use Inferno for a set-top device to enable the TV screen to be used for Internet access and messaging.

Source: Newsbytes