RAW --> JPEG 2000?

Does anyone know where Canon is at in making available a RAW to JPEG 2000 converter?

They have been working on the project for some time. See Canon JPEG2000

Must it be a hardware implimentation or can it be accomplished via firmware or stand-alone software?

Would JPEG 2000 be something that could be installed via a firmware upgrade to existing cameras?

Its possible that it could be a firmware upgrade, but not very likely. The mathematics of JPEG 2000 are radically different than the original JPEG, so all the special purpose DSP hardware (especially in high end, like the D30) would not help.

I think its much more likely to be something we'll see in the future on new cameras.

-lee-

third party progs like YARC or BreezeBrowser will hopefully support RAW conversion to JPEG2000.
Otherwise you can alway convert to TIFF and then use any program which can convert to JPEG 2000...