Tokyo, JAPAN — (press release) — EMBLIX, the Japan Embedded Linux Consortium, today announced their first elected officers, the results of an election process that was initiated at Japan's largest embedded systems conference, MST 2000. Today, the consortium also established three working groups designed to initiate discussion within the embedded Linux community about platform and interoperability… issues.

The new EMBLIX officer corps will consist of leaders in the Linux community who are well versed in the issues surrounding the Japanese embedded Linux market. Elected officers are:

• Dr. Tatsuo Nakajima, Chairman — a renowned Professor at Waseda University and Director of the Nakajima Laboratory for research in Real Time Embedded Systems
  
• John Cheuck, Vice Chairman — will be responsible for distribution and global promotion. Cheuck is Vice-President of the Embedded Platform Division at TurboLinux K.K. in Japan
  
• Y. Paul Kunimine, Vice Chairman — will be responsible for software and hardware development tools as well as issues relating to systems integration. Kunimine is Director and Vice President at Gaio Technology Co., Ltd. in Japan
  
• Hitoshi Arima, Auditor — President of MontaVista Software in Japan
  
• Takashi Kawahara, Auditor — President of Advanced Data Controls in Japan
  
• Noboru Okuda, Secretary and Treasurer — General Manager at Elmic Systems Inc., in Japan

Aside from organizing and developing seminars, tradeshows, newsletters, and on-line discussion groups, the elected officials will be spearheading a series of Embedded Linux Working Groups, which will encourage technical discussion on all Embedded Linux-related topics, such as platform standardization and interoperability. The EMBLIX working groups will be organized and attended by members of the EMBLIX Consortium. All results from the working groups will be published and shared with the embedded Linux community. EMBLIX Working Groups currently established are:

• Real Time Working Group — looks at technical issues and challenges of real-time and embedded Linux
  
• Hybrid-Architecture Working Group — looks at technical issues and challenges of hybrid architectures that combine embedded Linux with other popular and legacy architectures like ITRON
  
• Development Tools and Environment Working Group — looks at technical issues and challenges of software and hardware development tools and environments for embedded Linux

Having grown from 24 to 81 members, EMBLIX is the pre-eminent embedded Linux organization in Japan. “We have recently made new design and technology announcements in Japan, and is experiencing real synergy between academia and the embedded Linux industry,” said Chairman Nakajima. “We have reached critical mass, but still face the challenge of establishing technical standards and platform interoperability. The EMBLIX working groups are designed to initiate action around these issues and give a voice to every member of the embedded Linux community.”

“EMBLIX's open seminar on embedded Linux at MST drew over 500 people, the largest crowd at the show. Embedded Linux is a reality in Japan and will greatly impact the embedded systems market worldwide,” said Vice Chairman John Cheuck. “Over 25% of our EMBLIX members are current users or potential users of Embedded Linux and we are encouraged by the creation of the working group forums.”

For membership, general information or to see a list of current members, visit the EMBLIX website.

 
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