Wind River and Kontron announced a global, multi-year agreement under which the embedded system manufacturer will distribute Wind River's VxWorks and Wind River Linux distributions. The agreement is expected to extend software and service offerings across a range of industries, says Wind River.

The agreement, which calls for Kontron joining the Wind River Partner Validation Program, will target collaborations in the industrial, medical, military and aerospace, transportation, and networking market segments, says Wind River. Germany-based Kontron agrees to work with Wind River to proliferate Wind River Linux for use by joint customers, and will also be able to resell production licenses for Wind River's VxWorks real-time operating system (RTOS), which still dominates Wind River's revenues. In addition, Wind River will continue to provide hardware and software tools, development environments, source code, and support contracts for joint customers.

Wind River also announced that Kontron's nanoETXexpress-SP module (pictured at right) is now validated for use with VxWorks 6.7. Based on an Intel Atom processor, the nanoETXexpress-SP computer-on-module (COM) was said to be compatible with Linux, VxWorks, and various Windows operating systems when it was announced last year. The COM is aimed at handheld applications and adheres to Kontron's 3.3 x 2.2-inch nanoETXexpress form factor.

The partnership extends a "decade-long collaboration," between the companies, based primarily on Kontron installing Wind River's carrier-grade Wind River Platform for Network Equipment, Linux Edition (PNE-LE) and VxWorks distributions. For example, in 2006, Kontron announced that PNE-LE would be bundled with Kontron's ATCA (advanced telecommunications computing architecture), MicroTCA, and AMC (advanced mezzanine card) networking products. Additionally, Kontron, which had previously partnered with Wind River rival MontaVista Software on carrier-grade products, joined Wind River's partner program at the time.

Wind River Linux was subsequently offered on systems such as Kontron's 3U, five-slot OM6040 3U MicroTCA system, pictured at left. With version 3.0 of Wind River Linux, the carrier-grade PNE-LE was folded back into the mainstream distribution.

This summer Wind River was acquired by Intel, and is now a subsidiary. (Kontron is already a member of the Intel Embedded Alliance.) Next month, MontaVista is expected to be acquired by Cavium Networks.

Stated Dirk Finstel, CTO, Kontron AG, "Our customers will benefit from the closer alignment with Wind River across all market segments and regions. This distribution agreement enables us to further reduce time-to-market requirements, and increase our value-added services by providing our customers a richer out-of-the-box experience with a compelling set of tools and operating system options."

Stated Roger Williams, VP, Strategic Alliances, Wind River, "The distribution agreement between Wind River and Kontron will allow both companies to more quickly respond to new design win opportunities."

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