ACCESS and PalmSource today announced the ACCESS Linux Platform (ALP), the latest evolution of Palm OS for Linux. The ACCESS Linux Platform is designed to be an integrated, open and flexible Linux-based platform tailored for smartphones and mobile devices.

ALP is designed to provide a complete, consistent and customizable solution for handset and mobile device manufacturers and mobile operators. ACCESS and PalmSource expect to make the ALP Software Developer Kit (SDK) available to its licensees by the end of this year (2006).

An open and flexible software platform - Major components of ALP include:

• Standard, commercial-grade Linux kernel - version 2.6.12 and above
• Optimized implementation of GIMP ToolKit (GTK+) - popular open source libraries for the creation of graphical user interfaces
• GStreamer - an open source, modular and multi-threaded streaming media framework
• SQLite - a high-performance database engine commonly used in embedded devices

Where appropriate, open source components used in ALP are extended and certified by the Company. For example, ACCESS and PalmSource will enhance and certify the open source BlueZ libraries to provide ALP with a Bluetooth® 2.0 technology compliant software stack.

A number of ACCESS and PalmSource technologies have been incorporated into ALP, including:

• ACCESS NetFront browser - a proven success with over 200 million deployments in 721 commercial products for more than 30 handset and 90 Internet device manufacturers worldwide
• PalmSource messaging and telephony middleware - a highly modular and scalable implementation
• PalmSource mobile applications including PIMs, multimedia, messaging,
• PalmSource HotSync and Palm Desktop -includes the recognized ease-of-use that users expect

Accelerating innovation - ALP features MAX, an innovative application framework designed by ACCESS and PalmSource to deliver an intuitive, easy-to-use user experience and user interface for smartphones and mobile devices. MAX will seamlessly support the concurrent operation of multiple applications and tasks. It will also provide easy access to background tasks. Designed to deliver a predictable and intuitive navigation model for both one- and two-handed user interface schemes, the MAX framework offers the flexibility to support five-way navigation and two dedicated keys, as well as touch-screen and stylus input mechanisms.