MIPS drives Android into the digital home

SUNNYVALE, USA: MIPS Technologies Inc., a leading provider of industry-standard processor architectures and cores for home entertainment, communications, networking and portable multimedia markets, has met a key milestone in driving the Android platform beyond mobile handsets.

Just two months after announcing its port of the Android platform to the MIPS(r) architecture, the company is making the source code publicly available.

MIPS Technologies also initiated an Early Access Program for a small group of key customers who will have access to specific hardware and code optimizations before they are publicly available. These customers will work closely with MIPS' engineering team, providing critical feedback and market expertise. MIPS Technologies plans to announce initial Early Access customers shortly.

"We are seeing an enormous amount of customer interest in Android on the MIPS architecture," said Art Swift, vice president of marketing, MIPS Technologies.

"Android presents a compelling value proposition in bringing internet connectivity and a broad range of applications to MIPS-based digital home devices. We are working closely with customers and partners to ensure that critical technologies are available for developers to take advantage of Android for consumer electronics."

Together with ecosystem partners, silicon partners and working groups of the Open Embedded Software Foundation (OESF), an organization focused on driving Android beyond mobile handsets, MIPS Technologies is working to define standardized Android-based platforms for consumer devices such as set-top boxes, digital TVs, mobile internet devices (MIDs), home media players and VoIP systems.

Having already demonstrated Android running on a home media player and on a DTV reference design, MIPS and its partners plan to demonstrate more solutions in the coming months.

MIPS Technologies and its partners last week outlined their progress in taking Android beyond mobile handsets during forums in Taiwan and Japan. At the Japan forum -- sponsored by the OESF -- MIPS Technologies' long-time partner D2 Technologies demonstrated its mCUE converged communications client for Android-based devices.

The demonstration showed how embedded software products such as mCUE can enable VoIP, video chat and other IP communications in Android-based embedded equipment and consumer electronics devices.