TASKING PROVIDES TOOLS FOR GOVERNMENT FUNDED REAL-TIME EMBEDDED SYSTEMS RESEARCH

Kansas State University chooses TASKING Software Development Tools for research and education

Dedham, Mass. — December 7, 1999 — TASKING, Inc., today announced that it is providing Kansas State University with 68K and C166 software development tools for use in courses specifically designed for real-time embedded systems research and education. "TASKING was selected after a lengthy search for the appropriate tools," said Professor Mitchell Neilsen. "What tipped the scales in TASKING's favor was that our students want to program in C ++, and TASKING provides C++ support for both targets, including the only C166 tools on the market with C++ support."

Commenting on TASKING's tools, Neilsen continued, "Our evaluation revealed that the tools not only had the powerful features needed to generate efficient code, but they also included an easy-to-use development environment ideally suited for students with limited experience. This will definitely help to get them up and running quickly, so they can focus on building useful applications."

"We are pleased that our tools were chosen for this NSF-funded embedded systems research," said Brian Mulcahey, VP of Worldwide Corporate Marketing at TASKING. "As the demand for greater functionality in electronic devices continues to increase, it's important that our schools have the tools to train the industry's future embedded systems engineers. "

Kansas State purchased toolsets for both 68K and C166 microcontrollers. Tools include C++ and C compilers, CrossView Pro debugger and TASKING's Embedded Development Environment (EDE). Key application areas include mechanical control systems and industrial automation. The embedded systems curriculum at Kansas State consists of four courses at the upper undergraduate/beginning graduate level: Real-Time Embedded Systems Fundamentals, Real-Time Embedded Systems I, Real-Time Embedded Systems II, and Applied Research in Real-Time Embedded Systems. To optimize time spent by students in the laboratory, each student will be provided with a virtual laboratory on CD-ROM. The virtual laboratory will include multimedia presentations of the lecture material from class, extensive reference material, a microkernel simulator, and software to simulate various parts of an embedded system. With the proliferation of inexpensive and compact processing capability, the need for real-time embedded systems in research and education is growing, and this project is expected to make a significant impact in that arena.

About TASKING, Inc.
TASKING is a developer and supplier of integrated software development tools for the embedded systems market and supports a wide range of CISC, RISC, microcontroller and DSP semiconductor technologies in the Telecommunications, Data Communications, Automotive, Consumer Electronics and Office Automation markets. TASKING's knowledge of embedded systems results from the merger of three companies (BSO, Intermetrics Microsystems and TASKING) which are now embedded together to make their customers more successful. The three companies bring over 20 years of experience each, starting in 1974 with BSO pioneering the concept of cross development. Headquartered in Dedham, Mass., TASKING has offices worldwide, located in the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Japan and UK. For more information about TASKING, visit their web site at www.tasking.com.

About Kansas State University
Founded in 1863, Kansas State University is a comprehensive, research, land-grant institution located in Manhattan, 125 miles west of Kansas City. Total enrollment is over 20,000, including nearly 3,000 engineering students. For more infornmation visit their web site at www.ksu.edu

About The National Science Foundation
The NSF funds research and education in science and engineering, through grants, contracts and cooperative agreements. The Foundation accounts for about 20 percent of federal support to academic institutions for basic research. For more information visit their web site at www.nsf.gov.

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