DevelopOnline has announced the addition of two types of PowerPC development systems to its online collaborative development resources — one from IBM and one from Motorola. Here are exerpts from the company's announcements regarding availabity of the new online platforms . . .

Motorola PowerPC platform

Microprocessor leader Motorola is making its newest telecommunications PowerPC-based hardware platform available online to DevelopOnline's community of developers. Latest Platform at DevelopOnline Brings New Choice to Developers Developers also will have access now to Motorola's Sandpoint development platform (microprocessor-based board) based on the MPC755 processor. This platform is ideal for current communications applications such as emerging
Internet telephony and other telecommunications uses.

IBM PowerPC Platform

IBM Microelectronics is making its PowerPC Platform with the new 405GP processor available on DevelopOnline's collaborative development Web site. The new PowerPC 405GP processor hardware platform (board) will enable, for the first time, systems and applications innovators to use the Web for developing and running applications on the 405GP processor, which is ideal for processing data in the networking infrastructure.

General comments (regarding both platforms)

DevelopOnline works online with the open source software community to accelerate time-to-market for microprocessor-based intelligent electronic products.

The new microprocessor platforms join technologies from Avnet, Compaq, Intel, Lineo, MontaVista, Red Hat, STMicroelectronics and others. Such platforms represent hundreds of millions of research and development dollars. The online platforms provide a new way for product designers to develop and test new systems and applications quickly and inexpensively, without the requirement to purchase local hardware resources.
DevelopOnline, the first Intel-incubated spinout company, is providing online development platforms initially for Linux operating system innovators — engineers and programmers — to use for developing products.

The Web-based resources are available for prototyping both hardware and software and for testing the products. The DevelopOnline resources eliminate the need for Linux innovators to invest in microprocessor evaluation boards or to build their own boards based on a reference design. Using DevelopOnline's services dramatically reduces development costs while improving time-to-market for electronic products.

“This may well be the catalyst for putting the Linux development community to work creating the next wave of technology products,” said Dr. Jerry Krasner, Executive Director of CMP's Electronic Forecasters. “Making such hardware platforms available online brings the millions of Linux developers worldwide a giant step closer to the research and development labs of the globe's leading technology powerhouses.”

According to DevelopOnline CEO Alan Steinberg, thousands of developers have registered at DevelopOnline since its launch this fall, and more than 400 development projects are underway. “The [new platforms help] to round out our processor offerings, providing developers access to handheld devices, Internet appliances, home computing devices and all types of networking infrastructure applications,” said Steinberg. “Before we [began putting] such platforms online, Linux developers [had been] constrained to one platform for development — the white box which sat under the desk or in the server closet. Developers using our resources are benefiting from millions of dollars of research and development investments made by the processor companies.”

DevelopOnline ensures the compression of the development cycle for new products by opening the hardware platforms up to the Linux development community and providing the software required to the developers via a complete integrated development environment (IDE). Faster development cycle time means faster time-to-market for the Internet era's frequently short-lived electronic products. Typically, faster time-to-market equates to earlier and greater profits on products.

Users of the both the IBM and Motorola PowerPC platforms will also benefit from software support services recently announced by MontaVista. These Linux software support services are available in a special 30-day package created for DevelopOnline users.

 
This article was originally published on LinuxDevices.com and has been donated to the open source community by QuinStreet Inc. Please visit LinuxToday.com for up-to-date news and articles about Linux and open source.