Microsoft Previews Windows XP Embedded

If Microsoft has its way, you'll see bits of Windows XP in a lot more than new PCs.

Microsoft handed developers on Tuesday a working copy of its Windows XP operating system for embedded systems, debuting its second operating system for devices such as handheld computers and set-top boxes this month. The beta 2 release of Windows XP Embedded gives hardware makers the tools needed to build operating systems for such devices as server appliances and automated industrial machines based on Microsoft's Windows XP Professional desktop operating system.

"If it's in Windows XP, then it will be in Windows XP Embedded," says Kelly Meagher, product manager for Microsoft's embedded and appliance platforms group. "Developers can access the same technology, but in a componentized version."

Microsoft this month also released a beta 2 version of the next generation of the Windows CE operating system, code-named " Talisker." That embedded operating system will run on Microsoft's "Stinger" smart phone and the AutoPC--a computer terminal installed in a car dashboard--Microsoft says. The company also has an embedded operating system based on the Windows NT 4.0 kernel.

Piecing Together an OS

An embedded operating system is built as a set of components, allowing developers to pick and choose which pieces of the operating system they need for certain devices. Windows XP Embedded includes more than 10,000 components, the company says. Some of those include such features as Microsoft's instant messaging technology, Windows file protection, and Microsoft's encrypted file system.

Windows XP Embedded will feature support for a range of networking technologies such as 802.11 and variations of that wireless protocol. The operating system also supports the Kerberos security standard as well as USB and Universal Plug and Play.

Microsoft says it will release the final version of the embedded software soon after the anticipated Windows XP operating system officially debuts on October 25. Products running Windows XP Embedded are expected to hit the market as early as January 2002, the company adds.

Embedded Competition

The software maker's range of embedded offerings pits it against a number of competitors. Windows CE targets the market currently dominated by such software makers as Palm. The company also faces competition from companies that build their own embedded systems in-house and other market leaders such as Wind River Systems, which provides embedded systems for such markets as mobile phones and medical equipment makers.

Market researchers say Windows XP Embedded is specifically aimed at the market for server appliances, such as Sun Microsystems's Cobalt Cube, a low-cost, Linux-based server dedicated to individual serving functions. That puts Windows XP Embedded in competition with similar products running open source operating systems, according to Chris Le Tocq, an analyst with Guernsey Research.

"The competition here is mainly Linux and FreeBSD," Le Tocq says.

Microsoft has not detailed any new products that its development partners plan to ship running the embedded system. Nor has the software maker discussed any of its own expected products running Windows XP Embedded, though it has eyed such devices as residential gateways, advanced set-top boxes and retail point of sale devices.

"It's too early to say which devices will be built with the operating system," Meagher says.