By John Lui
Thursday, September 04 2003 07:00 AM
URL: http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/software/0,39044164,39149089,00.htm

SINGAPORE--The two Singapore inventors who claim to have created an operating system which can run programs written for Windows, Linux and Palm will formally launch the product this month.

This unveiling comes after almost a year's delay, marked by difficulties in finding investors and the adding of "critical new features", said R. Chandra, CEO of the company, which has had its name changed from Intramedia to Radixs.

"Our biggest problem was that the investment climate was bad. We were in a business that no-one had heard of in Singapore or Asia," he said.

But now, with funding in hand, the company has firmed up deals with handheld makers and mobile operators for the commercial rollout of wireless services using the platform, which will take place at the end of the year.

He declined to name the handheld makers or the mobile operators as the information is being withheld for the official launch this month at the Demomobile 2003 trade show in California.

The operating system (OS), called MXI, allows a computer to run programs written for the Windows, Linux or Palm operating systems. MXI performs a sophisticated form of emulation that enables the non-native program to perform as smoothly and quickly as it would on its native OS, claims Radixs.

A second piece of the platform runs on a handheld computer equipped with wireless communications.

When the handheld user runs a program, the bulk of the program's execution takes place on the MXI server. Just enough data is beamed to the MXI handheld to allow the user to view and interact with the document. The document being acted upon--a text file, spreadsheet, or image--is not stored on the handheld, but on the server.

In this manner, even weaker handhelds can run resource-intensive desktop programs, claimed Radixs's chief technology officer, Sam Hon.

Chandra promised that at the launch this month, the firm would showcase "exciting" hardware that would overcome the problems that come with running desktop applications on a handheld, such as too-small LCD displays.

And the low data requirements of MXI wireless communications allows the system to be used with slower GPRS cellular communications, although improved responsiveness and richer streaming media will be possible with third generation (3G) data networks, said Hon.

There are several software emulators available that allow programs written for one platform to be executed within another. These allow, say, Atari programs to be run on a Windows PC, PlayStation games to be used on a Macintosh, or Windows applications to be run inside Linux.

Unlike these, MXI is itself an operating system, not a "virtual environment" within a mainstream operating system. In addition, MXI allows programs written for several other platforms to be run within it, rather than just one, claim its makers.

The firm's business model lies in selling the platform as a service to mobile operators, who in turn provide wireless applications to subscribers.

The company is now 40-strong, and includes 25 software developers, all working in Singapore.