ACCESS continues to invest time and money into its ALP, the ACCESS Linux platform which could, one day, power handhelds such as the Palm line of PDAs.

Its American operations ACCESS Systems Americas, Inc, formerly known as formerly PalmSource, has signed a licensing agreement with Zi Corporation to pre-integrate eZiText predictive text technology and Decuma handwriting recognition technology into the ACCESS Linux Platform.

ACCESS has chosen to pre-integrate Zi Corporation’s eZiText and Decuma technologies into the ACCESS Linux Platform, the Company’s Linux-based platform designed for smartphones and mobile devices. This pre-integration is expected to accelerate the introduction of devices that incorporate Zi technology while providing a vehicle for ACCESS’ third party developer community to leverage eZiText in their applications targeted for devices based on the ACCESS Linux Platform.

Zi will receive unit license fees from OEM’s for eZiText or Decuma-enabled devices on the ACCESS Linux Platform.

Recently Palm has signed an agreement with ACCESS for a perpetual licence of Palm OS 5 for use on its Palm handhelds and Treo smartphones.