Interactive television (iTV) infrastructure vendor Liberate Technologies said Wednesday that its Liberate TV Navigator set-top box client has been certified as Java-compliant.
The company claims it is the first client software for set-top boxes to be certified under the Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition (J2ME). The company says the client supports both basic and advanced iTV set-tops, which it claims will make it easier for cable operators to deploy applications across their entire subscriber base.
J2ME has scored significant gains in the wireless device market, including widespread adoption by wireless phone vendors, but has met somewhat less success in the iTV arena. As in the wireless arena, Microsoft is the only major vendor that has eschewed Java, claiming its .NET foundation provides the same functionality as well as provides access to Java applications.
Java provides the technological underpinnings for the Multimedia Home Platform (MHP), the widely adopted platform for iTV being used in Europe. It also is built into the Open Cable Application Platform (OCAP), which is aimed at the North American market.