Kirk Polycom - multilingual programming

In the instant that you pick up your phone to make a call, the phone does not care at all whether you are speaking in Danish, English or Urdu. What does matter, however, is the programming language used when developing new wireless phones.  

Technical director for Polycom – formerly Kirk Telecom – Erik Stridbæk confirms this. ”The systems that we are using need to be as open as possible, so that they are quick and easy to adapt. And at the same time, there is a demand for a high level of reliability – there is no margin for error. Back in the days, we used to say “If it’s Kirk, it’s got to work’,” Erik Stridbæk explains and continues:

”Every platform used in our DECTtelephones we have built up ourselves, and they have been programmed using different programming languages. And it is important that all platforms are capable of communicating with each other. If we had been working with a computer, we would probably have chosen an open source platform such as Linux, but since a wireless phone has a very limited ‘hard disk capacity’, Java is without a doubt the safest choice. Therefore, we have very high expectations to the PhD project that Stephan Korsholm is working on at CISS.”

Cannot simply change the language

PhD student Stephan Korsholm himself comes from the former Kirk Telecom. And he says: ”With Java, you have the advantage that you discover programming errors earlier than in other programming languages. This means that you don’t need to go as far back in the process in order to remedy them – and eventually this means a higher level of efficiency. The programming period is shortened accordingly. However, if everything is to be re-programmed using Java, it would take a long time in which the company would not be productive. Thus, in practice, it is almost impossible to re-write all company software in another language. It has to be done gradually.”

This challenge he and Polycom have now set out to solve. The aim of Stephan Korsholm’s PhD is to make it possible to use several different development languages simultaneously. This means that newly-graduated engineers who have worked with Java at the university can use Java for programming, while their experienced colleagues can go on using C or start working with Java. There will be an almost unlimiited liberty of choice.

Multilingual programming is a novelty

Stephan Korsholm expects Polycom to convert all its software programming to Java during the course of some years, but thanks to Stephan Korsholm’s PhD project, the company does not need to rush it. And that makes the project rather unique. Because while several companies worldwide have changed their programming language – and have written thick manuals on how to do it – so far no one has managed to use several different programming languages simultaneously.

Therefore, it will not only be Polycom who can look forward to the point in two years’ time when Stephan Korsholm has finished his PhD and publicised his academic articles describing how to use multilingual programming.