Small business mail server/router runs embedded Linux, Dec 23, 2003

Internet appliance and industrial computer manufacturer ICP Electronics Inc. (IEI) has launched a sub-$1,000 web mail server, router, and firewall based on embedded Linux and targeting the small business market. The WMS-2208R boots embedded Linux firmware from Flash memory, and a configuration reset switch restores state.

A Chinese company based in Shanghai named "E28" has quietly been selling Linux-based smartphones in China since August, and today launched its Linux device in Hong Kong. The company also claims to be in talks with US and European companies to bring the device to those regions, according to one source.

Linux is making sufficient inroads into the embedded systems market to send vendors scrambling. The latest example was Wind River Systems, which experts say has 30 percent of the market for the tiny operating systems that run millions of devices ranging from cellular phones to airplane navigation gear.

Performance Technologies announced that it has updated its Linux-based NexusWare software suite, an embedded Linux implementation and development environment supporting the company's telecommunications board- and chassis-level hardware. NexusWare 6 is based on the 2.4.18 Linux kernel, and targets embedded applications in the communications, military, and commercial markets, the company says

NTT DoCoMo Inc, Japan's top mobile operator, aims to offer third-generation (3G) handsets that run on the Linux-based operating system (OS) as early as the second half of 2004, a source close to the firm said on Tuesday.

TimeSys, a company that specializes in Linux for "embedded" computing devices such as DVD players, expanded its programming tools so that they can be used with any version of the open-source operating system.

The expansion means that TimeSys' tools can be used to customize a version of Linux based on either homegrown or commercially available versions of the operating system, the Philadelphia-based company said last week. The move could expand the number of developers interested in the start-up's technology.

Sharp has selected MontaVista Software's version of Linux for its HG-01S home entertainment server, the companies said on Monday.

The device can be used to record TV programs, to store digital images from a camera-equipped mobile phone, to house a web-based photo album and to handle other tasks.

The LW SI will have a single processor. The previous LW had a dual processor, which frequently malfunctioned. Other changes include a more simplified data bus and a Linux-based operating system, as opposed to Windows. “Evidence shows that Linux is more stable. We are moving in general to where the Army is going, to Linux-based OS,” said Gallop.

The ActiveScale hardware architecture is remarkable, but its object-based file system, ActiveScale File System, is the most striking characteristic of the device. It makes possible quasi-unrestricted flows of data between clusters of Linux servers and the ActiveScale storage devices.

In fact, according to company benchmarks, the gain in performance and the additional scalability over traditional NAS devices from NetApp and EMC are staggering. Equally important, ActiveScale devices are built from off-the-shelf components that make for inexpensive configurations — around $25,000 for 1.6TB of capacity.

Motorola, the world's second largest mobile phone maker, will use the RealNetworks RealOne Player in some of its phones, RealNetworks said Tuesday.

Motorola's licensing agreement covers any operating system it chooses to develop phones on, but initially RealNetworks and Motorola will focus on Linux-based handsets aimed at the consumer mass market, said Ian Freed, vice president for mobile products and services at Seattle-based RealNetworks.

Consumer electronics giant Panasonic will use Linux instead of Microsoft's Windows Media Centre operating system as a base for multimedia entertainment systems that combine TV, video, and stereo with computers and internet access.

Panasonic executive vice-president Yukio Shohtoku told a news conference in Japan that it was working with Sony and other Japanese electronic firms on a Linux-based system.

He said Panasonic would also use Linux for digital home networking systems that would communicate within the home and across telephone lines.

Esfia Inc. announced that it has received $2 million in its first major round of financing, from four key investors. Esfia's CEO, Eric Lee, says Esfia will use the money to launch a line of RISC-based single board computers (SBCs) targeting vertical markets.

"Esfia has extended its business from embedded Linux software and middleware to embedded RISC-based SBCs with Integrated development environments (IDEs). This funding sets the stage for strong growth," explained Lee.

MontaVista Software, a Linux specialist that avoids PCs and general-purpose servers in favor of "embedded" devices such as DVD players, announced its third-generation operating system for telecommunications equipment on Monday.

The new MontaVista Linux Carrier Grade Edition 3.1, scheduled to be available in the fourth quarter, runs on new types of equipment and includes features designed to make telecommunications servers more reliable. The company announced the new version at the Telecom World 2003 show in Geneva.

The Dreambox DM7000 from Dream-Multimedia-Tv (DMM) is a $395 Linux-based digital radio and digital TV (DVB) satellite (or cable) receiver with digital video recorder (DVR) functions and PC connectivity. It is implemented using IBM's STB04500 set-top box chipset, which provides the necessary DVB functions like transport stream demultiplexing and MPEG2 decoding inexpensively. A minimalistic, GPL'd Linux-based software implementation has made the DM7000 popular with Linux programmers and TV device hackers.

Xi Graphics, Inc. announced today that it has released high-performance 2D and OpenGL 3D Accelerated-X(TM) Summit Series commercial-off-the-shelf graphics drivers that support the 3.5" Advantech PCM-9372 card on Linux or Solaris (on Intel) operating systems. The Summit graphics drivers provide optimized support for the VIA Technologies, Inc. C3 Eden processor with S3 ProSavage 3D graphics hardware, including support for the MMX and 3D Now! instructions in the C3 CPU.

Openwave Systems said Thursday that its browser and e-mail software for cell phones is now compatible with Linux, which strengthens a Motorola-led push to use the open-source operating system in mobile phones.

Security guard company Securis is using embedded Linux to power in-vehicle terminals in its fleet of mobile units in Belgium.

Atheros Communications Inc. has announced the availability of the first open source Linux and FreeBSD software drivers for 802.11b/g and universal 802.11a/b/g products.

The fact that Motorola is selling its stake in Symbian (the corporation) doesn't mean that Motorola is stopping selling Symbian (the software) in its phones.

But it does mean that Motorola thinks the future in phone software is elsewhere. Linux, to be precise.

Linux, the fast growing and freely available operating system, looks like the software of choice for future televisions, set-top boxes and DVD recorders, consumer electronics executives and specialists said.

Motorola yesterday launched its first Linux-based smartphone into the Far Eastern market.

Announced last February, the A760 uses Linux as a core operating system, on top of which Java provides a multimedia application framework. Software that ships with the device includes a PDA-style personal information management suite, a video player, music player, an instant messaging tool and more.

"We were one of the first digital video people to make the move to Linux because, at the time [we were] using [Windows] 95 and 98, we had something like a 20-25 percent call-out rate per month to the systems, because they would just hang and corrupt themselves," said Douglas, explaining that Opia Vision moved to the open source platform because they needed higher reliability

AMD today demonstrates OpenPDA, a Linux technology-based software platform running on the latest version of the AMD Alchemy™ Solutions Mobile Handheld Reference Design Kit (RDK). This latest version of the RDK further demonstrates the unparalleled levels of functionality and portability enabled by the high-performance, low power, and highly integrated Au1100™ processor. When combined with the OpenPDA software suite, this platform represents a compelling new alternative for the PDA market.

Linux software has made good headway in undermining Microsoft in corporate networks. Now a Silicon Valley company believes Linux will do the same in the consumer electronics market. But here the incumbent isn't Microsoft. It's Alameda-based Wind River Systems, which has established itself over the past two decades as the leader in embedded software.

Wyse Technology announced a pair of Linux-based thin-client terminals today, which the company said will "address the rapidly expanding Linux thin-client market . . . and allow [it] to maintain its dominance of the worldwide thin-client market." Data from market research firm IDC indicates that the worldwide Linux thin-client market grew more than 80% in 2002, Wyse said.

The device was based on 206MHz Intel Strong ARM CPU and ran version 2.4 of the Linux kernel from Embeddix. It included Insignia Solutions' Jeode PersonalJava virtual machine and a desktop interface from Trolltech. It had a 16-bit 3.5in colour screen, 64MB of RAM, CompactFlash slot and SD/MM card slot.

News of the machine's demise appeared this week on Sharp's Zaurus Developer Network online forum. One developer revealed that the 5500 had been officially end-of-lined in Germany, and had been told unofficially that it was being killed of throughout Europe too.

Embedded Linux seller MontaVista Software has opened an office in Korea, the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company said Thursday. The office will be located nearer to companies such as Samsung, which revealed as part of the announcement that it is a MontaVista customer. Samsung is a member of the Consumer Electronics Linux Forum, a group MontaVista is seeking to join.

An interesting Linux-based wireless home appliance targeting international travelers is set to go on sale today in France. According to Nexedi, its "TVBrick Home Server" allows travelers to watch home TV channels when they are abroad. The device, which is based on the OpenBrick platform connects to a broadband Internet connection in the home, and allows the traveler to watch home TV channels remotely using a laptop or PC provided broadband Internet access is available at the remote location. The remote PC thus receives streaming audio and video from the TVBrick Home Server. For example, someone from Japan with a TVBrick Home Server installed and operating at home could watch Japanese TV programs while traveling in France.

MontaVista Software, a company specializing in Linux for "embedded" computing devices such as network equipment, hopes to join the newly announced Consumer Electronics Linux Forum, the company said Wednesday. Founders of the group are Matsushita Electric, Sony, Hitachi, NEC, Royal Philips Electronics, Samsung, Sharp and Toshiba.

Eight people and a dozen laptops were crammed into a tiny windowless conference room at 5 p.m. last Monday. On the laptops: untested code. On the conference table: piles of silicon and metal. On the people's minds: escalating, deadline-induced panic.

But by 2:30 a.m., data was being transmitted wirelessly to what had become a laptop-based flight control center for a Linux-controlled rocket. The aircraft was a few steps closer to blasting off into the upper atmospher

But so far there are few such devices available in the U.S. market, and even those that run Linux do not have a logo or a public-relations machine to trumpet the fact. The depth to which Linux has penetrated this market, therefore, is something of a mystery. However, the evidence that does exist suggests consumer-electronics companies are taking advantage of the open-source platform to change some fundamental dynamics of their business.

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