Motorola has named MontaVista's Carrier Grade Linux distribution the “preferred software development and deployment OS” for its embedded communications computing equipment. Motorola's Open Application-Enabling Platforms target TEMs (telecommunications equipment manufacturers), and are supported under MontaVista Linux Carrier Grade Edition (CGE) throughout product lifecycles, the companies say.

The non-exclusive deal arrives in the wake of a preview release of MontaVista's fourth-generation Carrier Grade Linux (CGL) product, CGE 4.0. It extends an OEM agreement MontaVista signed in June of 2004 to provide the OS for Motorola's carrier-grade systems. MontaVista has belonged to Motorola's “Embedded Connections” third-party alliance since 1999.

The newly expanded deal calls for Motorola's standard Open Application-Enabling Platforms to be certified with MontaVista Linux CGE, after which they will be customized for various telecom applications, primarily in wireless infrastructure, by Motorola and its customers.

For its part, MontaVista will optimize CGE on all current and future Motorola platforms, and will support all deployed configurations, including Motorola's Open Application-Enabling Platforms and the AdvancedTCA-based AXP products announced in 2004.

Motorola will continue to work with other OS suppliers, as customer demands dictate. However, it says it will work most closely with MontaVista, on initiatives such as product roadmap coordination, support program coordination, and the development and implementation of new technology.

Motorola is the largest provider of equipment to TEMs, according to MontaVista founder Jim Ready, who calls the deal a “watershed event” for his privately-held embedded Linux company. “This expanded relationship provides further evidence of the accelerating demand for carrier grade Linux as a platform for network infrastructure. We look forward to collaborating on more ways to deliver open-standards based solutions,” Ready stated.

Motorola's GM of embedded communications computing, Wendy Vittori, said, “Through our strategic relationship, we will work with MontaVista and the standards organizations to evolve the carrier grade Linux specification to meet a new set of industry needs that are emerging with the growing adoption of communications servers.”

MontaVista also supplies the embedded Linux OS used by Motorola in its Linux-based mobile handsets. MontaVista's other telecom equipment partners include RadiSys, Kontron, Diversified Technology, and Continuous Computing, among others. HP, meanwhile — also a top telecom equipment supplier — provides a house-brand CGL based on Debian with its platforms for TEMs.

More information on Motorola's Open Application Enabling Platforms can be found here.

 
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