Sunnyvale CA, Paris, Tokyo — (press release excerpt) — MontaVista Software Inc. today announced MontaVista Linux Carrier Grade Edition 2.1, the first carrier-grade quality Linux distribution targeted for edge and core telecommunications including applications for the converging IP and voice networks, optical networks, signaling gateways and Voice over IP (VoIP) gateways, and many other applications.

MontaVista Linux Carrier Grade Edition enhances standard Linux with additional high reliability and availability features for deployment in carrier-grade environments, and is designed specifically to address the needs of telecommunications equipment manufacturers. Based on a significant open source development project initiated by MontaVista Software with contributions from other open source projects, it provides kernel and driver hardening, monitoring and fault management services, and other carrier-grade features. (A whitepaper on the technology is available here.)

MontaVista Linux Carrier Grade Edition builds on the company's expertise in embedded Linux and high availability. The new product incorporates all the benefits of the MontaVista flagship product, MontaVista Linux Professional Edition, which includes a fully preemptive kernel and real-time scheduling, small footprint targets and journaling file systems. It also builds on key technologies from the MontaVista High Availability Framework, such as PICMG 2.12 hot swap capabilities (hot replace and hot insert), redundant Ethernet, and resource monitoring, and event management subsystem.

“Telecommunications equipment manufacturers want to deliver affordable next-generation solutions at a faster time-to-market,” said Jane Munn, vice president, IBM Global Telecommunications. “Carrier-grade Linux, with its open interfaces and leading-edge technology, will help bring these solutions to telecommunications customers.”

MontaVista Software has a strong commitment to providing carrier-grade solutions and is actively participating in several industry initiatives to define carrier-grade and high availability standards. These include the OSDL Carrier Grade Linux Working Group (which includes Intel, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Cisco, Nokia and Alcatel as members) and the Service Availability Forum (which includes Compaq, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Nokia, Radisys and Force as members). As specifications from these organizations emerge, MontaVista is committed to incorporating these into its Carrier Grade Edition product.

MontaVista Linux Carrier Grade Edition will be available for Intel architecture platforms in the second quarter of 2002. Subscribers to the MontaVista High Availability Framework product will be able to migrate seamlessly and without additional cost to the MontaVista Linux Carrier Grade Edition product. Subscribers of MontaVista Linux Carrier Grade Edition will be able to upgrade to a next-generation version of the product when industry carrier-grade Linux specifications are further defined. Support for other architecture platforms is also planned.

Background

High Availability is a term for technology that enhances the “up-time” of computer systems by distributing functionality across multiple CPUs. Highly available systems reduce single points of failure in a single chassis. In response to hardware and software failures, high availability systems facilitate the rapid transfer of control (fail-over) from a faulty CPU, peripheral, or software component to a functional one, while preserving operations or transactions in progress at the time of failure.

Carrier-grade is a term for next-generation telecommunications products that require 5 nines or 99.999 percent reliability. MontaVista Linux Carrier Grade Edition provides key technologies that enable 5 nines solutions. The product's hot swap capabilities, combined with redundancy support for networking and storage subsystems, provide a higher level of availability than is realized with standard Linux operating systems. These features, along with a fault management framework and hardware redundancy, will enable a system to reach 5 nines or even 6 nines of availability.

 
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