A little OS music Chorus jazzes up operating system with Java >BY SHIRA LEVINE, New Media Editor

A West Coast maker of modular operating system products is rolling out a Java-enabled, real-time operating system that lets users surf the World Wide Web and talk on the phone simultaneously with one piece of equipment.

The equipment makers that use Chorus Systems' products need to Java-enable their products quickly, said Fred Rehhausser, vice president of marketing at the Campbell, Calif., company. By using the Chorus/JaZZ operating system, they can combine Java with their equipment's embedded real-time software to call up Java applications anyplace on the network.

Chorus/JaZZ also is highly scalable, allowing a telecom vendor to run anything from a personal digital assistant to a public switch while incorporating Java functionality.

"Our customers want to be able to have a building block on which to tailor products and services for their customers," Rehhausser said.

Chorus also announced that Lucent Technologies will use its Chorus/ClassiX operating system as one of the internal operating systems for its next generation transmission products.

"The Chorus product has a tremendous amount of flexibility associated with it," said Lee Stecher, software development director for the network systems division of Lucent.

Lucent will use the Chorus/ClassiX system for some of its embedded processors in its telecom product line, Stecher said, citing the systems' support of a wide range of microprocessors. The deal is not exclusive, however, and Lucent is considering other operating systems as well.