Waltham, MA. — (company press release) — NETsilicon, Inc. a leading provider of ARM-powered, system-on-silicon connectivity solutions, today announced the introduction of NET+Lx, a comprehensive embedded network connectivity system using the Linux operating system. NET+Lx combines the NET+Works embedded networking solution, the reliability and open source benefits of Linux, and the tools and support… needed to make Linux a production-ready platform for networked products. With NET+Lx, NETsilicon seeks to broaden the appeal of Linux for product design and provide an additional operating system choice for manufacturers.

“NET+Lx combines the hassle-free connectivity and production-ready solutions of NETsilicon with the open source benefits of Linux,” stated Bill Peisel, chief technology officer for NETsilicon. “While many manufacturers would like to take advantage of Linux's reliability and open source benefits for product design, most cannot afford the time-to-market and support cost required to develop networking from scratch. NET+Lx contains all the NET+Works hardware, software, tools, and support so that manufacturers can rapidly add connectivity into a wide variety of product designs. NET+Lx complements the NET+Works operating system portfolio, allowing customers to develop networked products on a range of embedded operating systems.”

NET+Lx runs on the NET+ARM system-on-silicon chip which, when coupled with the physical Ethernet interface and RAM and ROM, contains all the hardware and software necessary for manufacturers to build net-connected products. This includes 10/100BaseT Ethernet, Internet protocols, Web, mail and file transfer servers, a Web browser, and a host of drivers, interfaces and utilities — all running on a high performance 40 MIPs ARM-based processor. These certified protocols and networking applications include UDP, TCP, IP, DHCP, FTP, HTTP, SMB, NFS, SNMP, SMTP, and POP3.

Today's announcement will appeal to a broad range of manufacturers: from makers of consumer products, to providers of Internet appliances, industrial automation products, LCD displays, and embedded controllers — particularly since Linux integrates well with enterprise applications. In addition to leveraging Linux's large developer base, manufacturers can potentially use no-charge open source applications as the building blocks of their products, helping to reduce overall costs. Thus, as application costs decrease, adding network connectivity becomes easier for makers of price-sensitive products.

NETsilicon's Linux development partner, WireSpeed Communications Corporation, has ported the embedded Linux OS kernel, uClinux, to the NET+ARM hardware platform. WireSpeed will serve as NETsilicon's preferred developer for customers seeking professional Linux product development services.

“We have worked very closely with NETsilicon to produce a Linux-based network connectivity solution that will add Ethernet/Internet connectivity to most any product,” said James True, vice president of marketing for WireSpeed. “The Linux-based applications allow the customer to bring a wide range of Internet-connected products to market quickly. We look forward to supporting NETsilicon customers seeking turnkey solutions based on NET+Lx.”

Commenting on future support for NET+Lx, Peisel added, “We envision that NETsilicon will have a series of releases for NET+Lx, including those that will enhance real-time applications for Linux environments and, ultimately, provide seamless distributed processing through enterprise networks.”

In addition to embedded Linux, NETsilicon offers NET+Works solutions that support Wind River's VxWorks and pSOS+ as well as source level drivers that provide a model for porting to other RTOS.

NETsilicon will begin shipping NET+Lx with an accompanying development toolset in Q2 2000. The NET+ARM chip with NET+Lx is priced at $24.95 in quantities of 10,000.

More about NET+Lx

Hardware Subsystems Highlights (NET+40 processor):

• 32-bit ARM7TDMI RISC processor with 40 MIPS performance
  
• Integral 10/100 Ethernet MAC
  
• SDRAM technology support
  
• HDLC support for synchronous communications
  
• SPI support for IEEE 1451.2
  
• Display support — separate component

Software Subsystems Highlights:

• uClinux kernel
  – Runtime libraries
  – Drivers (Ethernet/Serial Port/SPI/1284)
  – Flash management
  
• Server applications — certified Linux open source modules
  – Web (HTTP)
  – Mail (POP3/SMTP)
  – Naming (DHCP/BOOTP)
  – File (SMB/NFS)
  – FTP client and server
  – SNMP
  
• Network utility applications — Non-certified
  – Firewall (ipchains/firewall toolkit)
  – Monitoring/Diagnostics (supersniffer/tcpdump/ping/traceroute)
  – Management
  
• End user applications — Non-certified
  – User interface (graphical LCD/touch)
  – Browser support
  – Java (Kaffe/Blackdown)

About NETsilicon

NETsilicon, Inc. is a leading provider of integrated system-on-silicon and software solutions that connect electronic devices to the Internet and Ethernet networks. Using NETsilicon's solutions based on the NET+Works architecture, manufacturers can easily and affordably build network connectivity into their products. Once Internet-enabled, products can be managed, serviced, and accessed from anywhere. By making it easy to network-enable products, NETsilicon helps manufacturers reduce product time to market, lower costs, and free their engineers from the difficult task of integrating multi-vendor networking components. NETsilicon's solutions are used in a broad range of industries including imaging, industrial automation, telecommunications, building controls, security, and point of sale. NETsilicon embedded networking solutions are paving the way for the device-centric networks of tomorrow.

 
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