Hitachi Home/Biz Ecosystem Runs Consumer-Centric Apps

Move over iPhone and Android apps — the Hitachi SuperJ Applications Environment is here. New from Hitachi Communication Technologies America Inc. (HCTA), this software ecosystem “allows service providers to offer a wide variety of applications to their subscribers based on a universal, standards-compliant platform,” the company claims.

SuperJ, which is up and running in Japan and soon will be with two U.S. operators, can function on many devices now in use in homes and business, including modems, routers, set-top boxes, displays and wireless gateways, leading to such possible revenue producers as home monitoring, energy management and wellness monitoring. Applications can be obtained from third-party developers or developed by the service provider, and revenue is generated from such sources as one-time applications sales, recurring usage fees, advertising and higher-value bundling with other services, HCTA adds.

In an interview with CT Reports earlier today, HCTA CTO David Foote explained that his company had taken the smartphone API model to heart, coming up with a similar applications-based system that would work with home and enterprise networks. “We’re not so much focused on the apps,” he told us. “We’re the engine that makes them run.” As such, the home/enterprise router is the app platform.

“Service providers realize that managing the customer experience is critical to subscriber retention and earning incremental revenue. Implementing applications one-by-one is inefficient when the key to this business model is to offer a large number of applications to satisfy the widest variety of customer needs,” Foote noted. “The Hitachi SuperJ Applications Environment is scalable, modular and offers high performance on myriad terminal devices, so service providers can efficiently cast a wide net.”

Five modules make up the SuperJ ecosystem, several of which can be used independently. Carrier customers can choose to buy the entire package or they can pick and choose between Hitachi-made and other modules; most will work together due to an open-architecture scheme. Here’s what’s on offer:

• SuperJ Engine (SJE): Optimized CPE JVM. Provides better performance, lower CPE memory requirements.
• SuperJ Framework (SJF): OSGi framework, client CPE software; lower CPE memory requirements, faster app startup.
• SuperJ Deployment Management System (SJDMS): OSGi management server. Manages client apps in CPE; up to 1 million CPE devices; meets Tier 1 carrier redundancy and security requirements.
• SuperJ Management Agent (SJMA): Interface to SJDMS. Easy to use; adjustable to interop with auto discovery, authentication, provisioning and security processes of individual service provider.
• SuperJ Tools (SJT): Software development kit/applications programming interface, common function library. Plug-in to industry accepted SDK (Eclipse).

Hitachi also says its SuperJ Applications Environment is compatible with the OSGi Service Platform open standard, the dynamic module system for Java. A growing number of applications reportedly are being developed worldwide for the OSGi platform in multiple industries, including communications, energy, automotive/transportation, health and wellness, and consumer electronics.