CHICAGO, March 1, 2000 — Today at the Embedded Systems Conference (ESC) Spring 2000, Microsoft Corp. announced that, after only five months of availability, its Windows NT® Embedded 4.0 operating system has achieved more than 250 design wins. The company also announced the new Microsoft® Windows NT Embedded 4.0 Evaluation Kit to make Windows NT Embedded 4.0 even more accessible to prospective embedded solution customers. In several related announcements this week, Microsoft reinforced its commitment to the embedded systems industry and reported further industry support of its embedded platform offerings.
Every day, people use a variety of devices and systems of all sizes that run on embedded operating systems. As the need increases for these products to be more network-ready and as companies compete to bring new products to market more quickly and economically, companies building these products increasingly take advantage of the growing number of Microsoft embedded system offerings. Microsoft’s announcements this week span its embedded systems portfolio, reflecting the company’s support for handheld devices, new server appliances, and its embedded offering for even the largest embedded systems.
“Microsoft’s embedded offerings empower a broad spectrum of developers to create great devices, appliances and systems for their customers,”
said Jim Allchin, senior vice president of the Platforms Division at Microsoft.
“We are excited about the progress to date, appreciate the industry’s support, and will continue working hard to meet the platform needs of our embedded systems customers.”
Design Wins Numbering 250 and Counting
Microsoft delivered the English language version of Windows NT Embedded 4.0 in September 1999 and the Japanese and German language versions in November. Since then, more than 225 companies have selected Windows NT Embedded as the operating system for more than 250 new products. This rapid rate of adoption is due to broad support across many industries, device and system types, and geographies. Approximately one third of these design wins are in industrial automation, with telecom and medical systems representing nearly another 15 percent.
“Windows NT Embedded created an opportunity for us to minimize our development effort and quickly bring a product to market,”
said Ralph Armstrong, vice president of product management, Bus-Tech Inc.
“All we really had to do was integrate the hardware with the software and we had a running product. Within a week of receiving Windows NT Embedded we had something we could begin testing.”
To make it easier and faster for more system developers to try out Windows NT Embedded, Microsoft announced the new Windows NT Embedded 4.0 Evaluation Kit. The Windows NT Embedded 4.0 Evaluation Kit includes the complete tool set and binaries, along with complete documentation, allowing developers to see what is possible with solutions based on Windows NT Embedded before acquiring the full platform product. The Windows NT Embedded 4.0 Evaluation Kit will be available for order via Microsoft’s authorized embedded operating system distributors in March 2000 and will ship by April 2000. More information can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/embedded/ .
Related Embedded System Platform News From Microsoft
In related announcements this week, Microsoft reported significant progress in its other embedded system offerings:
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New server appliance: Windows for Express Networks. Microsoft today announced that it has released Windows® for Express Networks 1.0 to OEMs. Windows for Express Networks is the first server appliance based on the Windows NT Embedded operating system platform designed to power devices optimized for ease of use, reliability and performance. Windows for Express Networks enables a new category of server appliance for small offices with up to 25 personal computers in need of shared file, print and secure Internet access. Intel also announced yesterday that it has begun shipping Windows for Express Networks-based server appliances.
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Enhanced multimedia support in Windows CE. Microsoft also announced yesterday that the multimedia capabilities of Windows CE have been enhanced to include support for Microsoft DirectX® API technology. Several companies demonstrated their use of these new capabilities and made announcements regarding their devices and solutions at ESC.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software – any time, any place and on any device.
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