Wind River launched a partner validation program to offer pre-validated middleware stacks integrated with Wind River Linux and VxWorks for the industrial and medical markets . The initial partners for the Wind River Partner Validation Program are Acontis Technologies, Esterel Technologies, KW-Software, and Softing AG, says the company.

The "partner software solutions" resulting from Wind River's industrial and medical partners will target applications including control automation, process automation, power and energy, transportation, and medical devices, says Wind River. The packages are claimed to reduce integration costs and time-to-market for customers, while improving long-term support.

The Wind River Partner Validation Program was launched in May, initially targeting the networking and telecoms partners 6Wind, Continuous Computing, GoAhead Software, Oracle, RadVision, and Tail-f Systems, says the company.

The pre-validated stacks will in some cases include Wind River hardware — presumably hardware reference designs — in addition to embedded software such as Wind River Linux, says the new Intel subsidiary. Wind River's partners will integrate, verify, and validate software components, while providing software, testing, and commercial support, including longevity and lifecycle support, the company says.

Esterel's Scade Display Simulation Integration software
(Click to enlarge)

Industrial standards supported in the stacks include the Profinet open Ethernet-based real-time communication standard, which will be supported "in various scalable building blocks for different requirements," says the company. In addition, the pre-validated stacks are said to include those that support the IEC 61131-3 PLCopen-compliant PLC runtime environment standard for machine configuration, commissioning, and engineering.

The initial industrial and medical partners in the Wind River Partner Validation Program are:

• Acontis Technologies will offer pre-validated solution for its open source EtherCAT real-time, Ethernet communication stack.
• KW-Software will offers stacks based on Profinet and ProConOS IEC 61131-3 runtime and programming systems for industrial control and automation.
• Softing AG, which specializes in fieldbus technology, including Foundation fieldbus, Profibus, and CAN/CANopen/DeviceNet, will offer pre-validated OPC Unified Architecture (OPC-UA) Factory Gateway solutions.
• Esterel Technologies will offer a stack based on its Scade Suite (see screenshot above) model-based design development tools (both certification and non-certification) for generating critical embedded software applications for the industrial, energy, transportation, and military/aerospace domains.

Stated Wolfgang Hopfes, head of product marketing, Industrial Automation, Softing AG, "Previously, our customers would be required to buy solution artifacts separately and integrate them individually. This was often a hassle and any issues with integration and upgraded versions would be the customers' responsibility."

Stated Jens Wiegand, GM, Industrial and Medical, Wind River, "Wind River's Partner Validation Program offers validated software components and an ecosystem with a clear commitment to industry connectivity, vertical application stacks, and tools to help solve critical business issues."

Availability

Wind River did not announce when the various pre-validated solutions from the Wind River Partner Validation Program for the industrial and medical markets might be made available. More information may be found here.

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