By Rick Lehrbaum, Executive Editor of LinuxDevices.com . . .

LynuxWorks has raised $4 million in “bridge funding” and is in negotiations with venture companies for additional funding, according to an announcement to be issued later today. The company has also successfully achieved quarter-over-quarter growth for the final two quarters of its fiscal year, which ended April 30, 2002.

In an interview with LinuxDevices.com, LynuxWorks CEO and chairman Inder Singh attributed his company's growth, despite a depressed economy, to increased activity in the military/aerospace markets along with “a solid business model”, and added that the recent revenue growth combined with “some belt tightening a couple of months ago” have enabled LynuxWorks to become cash flow positive.

“We are now meeting our expenses based on revenue,” said Singh. “The $4M funding provides a nice cushion, and allows us to invest in opportunities in various vertical market segments that come along — so I feel pretty good.”

“Contrary to the negative stories we've been hearing about companies offering Embedded Linux, I feel we're managing our way successfully through the economic downturn,” continued Singh. “We attribute our financial stability to the strong momentum of Embedded Linux combined with our strategy of diversifying revenue streams from the compatible suite of LynxOS and BlueCat Linux embedded operating systems, [along] with our commercial grade tools and world-class service offerings.”

Tightening the belt

14-year-old LynuxWorks acquired ISDCorp in July 2000, and also ramped up its consulting resources throughout 2000. That left the company with excess capacity relative to the needs of the market, resulting in a need to “pare the organization down,” Sing explained. “We have been doing a fair amount of restructuring — that's what you have to do in this economic environment.” In addition to the recent “belt tightening”, LynuxWorks cut its staff by approximately 15 percent last summer.

Earlier this year, MontaVista Software reported that it received $28M in new funding, and Lineo recently recapitalized and received additional funding of approximately $1M. Lineo went through several rounds of layoffs in 2001 and 2002, and MontaVista also reduced its staff a year ago.

LynxOS + Linux — a dual-OS strategy

LynuxWorks changed its name from “Lynx Real Time Systems” to “LynuxWorks” two years ago, in a move that was intended to leverage the growing market presence and popularity of Embedded Linux. A key strategy for the company was to add Linux binary compatibility to its proprietary real-time operating system (RTOS), LynxOS, and offer it to companies wanting to deploy mission critical software platforms having a high degree of compatibility with Linux, including the use of selected Linux application software without modification or recompilation. In March, LynuxWorks released version 4.0 of their LynxOS RTOS which, the company asserts, provides a significant degree of Linux binary compatibility.

In a related announcement today, LynuxWorks also unveiled news of a significant design win for LynxOS 4.0 due to its binary compatibility with Linux. Danish contractor Terma A/S is updating the Royal Danish Navy Standard Flex 300 (SF300) command control and communication information (“C3I”) system, and required an RTOS which could provide binary compatibility with the Linux-based MÄK battlefield simulation software system, in which the project had made a significant investment. Other constraints included support for embedded Java & Java/C/C++ applications, field-proven high stability, a well-developed tool chain, and certification to the U.S. military's DO178B software standard. According to LynuxWorks, LynxOS 4.0 was the only RTOS able to meet Terma's requirements due to its binary compatibility with Linux and DO173B certification. LynuxWorks was required to demonstrate that LynxOS could run unmodified MÄK Technologies binaries as part of the proof of concept.

Not surprisingly, LynuxWorks has been highly vocal in its support of the Embedded Linux Consortium's “ELC Platform Specification,” which will formally define a standardized core embedded Linux platform. That specification, according to Mark Brown, Chair of the ELC's Core Platform Working Group, will not require that compliant operating systems be derived from Linux source code.

 
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