Performance Technologies (PT) says it has successfully registered a forthcoming version of its commercial Linux distribution with version 3.2 of the Carrier Grade Linux (CGL) specification. The company appears to be the first network equipment provider (NEP) to roll its own CGL-compliant Linux implementation.

PT is the third company to register a product against the 3.2 specification, behind FSMLabs (June) and Wind River (August). It also appears to be the very first NEP to register an in-house Linux implementation with any version of the CGL spec — previous CGL registrations have all come from third-party Linux providers, such as MontaVista, Wind River, TimeSys, Novell, AsiaNux, and Debian.

NEPs supply hardware platforms to telecommunications equipment manufacturers (TEMs) building standard, off-the-shelf infrastructure products. They also sell direct to carriers implementing custom infrastructure. PT offers a wide variety of hardware platforms, including its family of “Advanced Managed Platforms” (pictured above) based on AdvancedTCA and PICMG standards.

PT says registering NexusWare Core V11 against the CGL 3.2 specification will bring performance, security, and reliability enhancements. Due later this year, the product will be based on a 2.6 kernel, and will feature support for standards that include IPv6 and SIP (session initiation protocol). It will come standard with “NexusWare Studio,” PT's Eclipse-based IDE, and will also have better configuration and management tools than the currently available version, the company says.

Top-tier commercial embedded Linux distributors such as MontaVista, TimeSys, LynuxWorks, and Wind River have each had to adapt to the widespread trend of chip and board vendors supplying optimized Linux kernels direct to customers. It will be interesting to see if complete CGL stacks follow the commoditization trends at the kernel and driver level.

One thing's clear, though. Support from NEPs bodes well for the CGL standard. Bill Weinberg, senior technology analyst for the OSDL (Open Source Development Labs), stated, “We anticipate [NexusWare's CGL registration] will have a strong and positive impact on CGL adoption across telecommunications and networking applications.”

PT also recently joined the OSDL, the industry group maintaining the CGL standard.

Availability

The CGL version of NexusWare Core will begin availability in Q4 2006.

 
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