Apogee's Aphelion™ IDE and ports of new Java2 Micro Edition (J2ME) virtual machines from Sun will soon be available for LynuxWorks' real-time operating system LynxOS and BlueCat Linux running on popular embedded processors

CAMPBELL, Calif., August 15, 2000—Apogee Software today announced that Apogee's Aphelion, a comprehensive programming environment for developing and deploying Java-based embedded applications, is being ported to PowerPC and Pentium/Pentium-compatible embedded processors running LynuxWorks' LynxOS® real-time operating system. Ports to PowerPC and Pentium/Pentium-compatible processors running BlueCat™ Linux will follow shortly.

Designed for developing many types of embedded applications written in Java or a mix of Java and C/C++, Aphelion offers a comprehensive set of features and capabilities not typically found in Java development environments from other vendors. For example, it includes ahead-of-time optimizers that can create fast and compact bytecode zip files of entire deployment-ready Java applications. And, to further accelerate execution of bytecode zip files, Aphelion provides a special JNM optimizer to compile user-selected performance critical bytecode methods into highly optimized binary JNMs ("Java Native Methods"), each directly executable (after being invoked by Apogee's VM through a special fast interface) on a given target processor.

Aphelion comes with Sun's PersonalJava™ and EmbeddedJava™ VMs ported by Apogee to popular types of embedded processors and operating systems like LynxOS and BlueCat Linux and enhanced for high performance. These VMs will gradually be replaced with performance enhanced ports of Sun's new CDC and CLDC J2ME VMs, upgraded by Apogee to be fully compliant with the Real-Time Specification for Java™ (RTSJ) and optionally offered with a new highly deterministic garbage collection technology. This will result in ports of embedded VMs that are suitable for deployment of most hard real-time applications.

"The Aphelion port to LynxOS and BlueCat Linux represents a way for us to address the complex spectrum of embedded applications for which developers are wanting a Sun implementation of Java," said George Malek, Chairman and CEO of Apogee. "Apogee is very pleased that Aphelion and its ports of Sun's latest Virtual Machines will soon be available for various embedded processors running widely used operating systems like LynxOS and BlueCat."

"Apogee, who is a member of the LynuxWorks Synergy Partners Program, clearly is demonstrating the value of companies working together to provide customers with solution-oriented products," said Dr. Inder Singh, CEO and Chairman of LynuxWorks. "LynuxWorks is pleased that Apogee will support our products with Aphelion and its ports of the latest Sun VMs."

To support the entire development of many types of applications and their effective deployment, Aphelion includes not only the programming and debugging tools but also the project management and performance tuning tools. And, each such tool can be controlled through a powerful GUI with a look-and-feel of Microsoft Development Studio GUI, or by UNIX style line commands. The programming and debugging tools include the syntax driven Java/C/C++ editor, Java and C++ class browsers, Java and C/C++ optimizing compilers (including compilers that can compile Java source code or bytecode into native binary code), and bytecode/native code debuggers. The project management tools include the Java/C/C++ project manager and librarian. The performance tuning tools include the bytecode-to-bytecode optimizers (size optimizations of bytecode class files and speed optimizations of bytecode methods), and the unique JNM optimizer.

Availability

The first release of Aphelion scheduled for Fall 2000 will be hosted on Windows platforms (a graphical IDE) and Solaris platforms (command-line controlled tools). There will be several target-specific configurations of Aphelion, including the configurations targeted at PowerPC and Pentium/Pentium-compatible processors running LynxOS. The configurations targeted at PowerPC and Pentium/Pentium-compatible processors running BlueCat Linux will follow by year end.

About Apogee

Founded in 1988, privately held Apogee Software, Inc. specializes in the development of high-quality programming tools for developing Java, C, C++, and Fortran applications. Apogee is located in Campbell Calif., in the heart of the Silicon Valley. Information about Apogee is available at www.apogee.com.

About LynuxWorks

LynuxWorks, Inc., formerly Lynx Real-Time Systems, is a developer and supplier of Linux and real-time operating system software for reliable and high-performance embedded computing applications. LynuxWorks supports industry standards in communications, avionics, automotive, office automation and process control systems worldwide, enabling customers to leverage their investments in software and education. LynuxWorks products include the open-source BlueCat™ Linux and the scalable, Linux-compatible LynxOS® real-time operating system; software frameworks for high-availability systems; development tools and technical support worldwide.

Java and other Java-based trademarks and logos are trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. Aphelion is a trademark of Apogee Software, Inc. LynxOS is a registered trademark and BlueCat is a trademark of LynuxWorks, Inc. All other names mentioned are trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks of their respective companies.

LynuxWorks press contacts

Kirsten Long Director, Marketing Communications LynuxWorks, Inc. USA +1 408-979-4404	Dave Reddy Weber Shandwick USA +1 650-868-4659	Peter van der Sluijs Neesham Public Relations Europe +44 1442-879222
Hamid Mirab Managing Director EMEA LynuxWorks Ltd. United Kingdom +44 208-906-9506	Elvia Soltero Weber Shandwick USA +1 408-685-0614