Embedded software powerhouse Wind River's metamorphosis into an embedded Linux vendor appears to be complete. The company will announce today that it is shipping a pre-release version of its first embedded Linux distribution, and that it has already delivered 1,000 “developer seats” for the Carrier Grade Linux 2.0 compliant software.

Known as the “Platform for Network Equipment, Linux Edition” (PNE Linux Edition), the offering is Wind River's first software platform to include a complete Linux filesystem along with with a “rich set of networking middleware and applications,” the company says.

Wind River announced last November that it planned to make a version of PNE — which was originally based on VxWorks, the company's proprietary real-time operating system (RTOS) — available in a Linux flavor.

Wind River has said that it expects PNE Linux Edition to popular with makers of telecommunications equipment who use Linux on the control plane along with VxWorks on the data plane, and that the platform would include middleware allowing Linux and VxWorks processes to communicate with each other.

According to Venture Development Corp. (VDC) embedded software analyst Steve Balacco, the overall market for embedded operating systems and development tools is projected to generate $1.3B worldwide revenue in 2005, and is forecast to grow to nearly $1.7B by 2007. Of that, the telecom/datacom segment targeted by Wind River's PNE Linux offering represents roughly a quarter of the embedded OS and tools market, or a projected $345M this year (see table).

Worldwide market for embedded operating systems and development tools

	2004	2005	2006	2007
Overall embedded market	1142.7	1306.2	1488.7	1693.5
Telecom/Datacom market segment	299.9	345.3	295.9	455.1

(Source: Venture Development Corp. Values shown are in millions of dollars)

PNE is part of Wind River's platform strategy, unveiled in November, 2002. The company's platforms comprise operating systems, middleware, application stacks, tools, and service contracts that broadly target very general vertical markets, such as consumer electronics, industrial devices, telecom, and others. Wind River has selected its Network Equipment platform as the first to be offered with a Linux operating system, but is likely that other platforms will follow in PNE's footsteps.

“We are not shying away from the fact that there are customers that will use Linux and VxWorks, and potentially will use them interchangeably, or one over the other,” Fanelli said. “What we're interested in doing is really driving the market for device software, which could be independent of the operating environment, and really leverage our Workbench development suite and all of the capabilities that we've guilt into that.”

“You will, in the future, see our CELF [Consumer Electronics Linux Forum] version of Linux, and we are not being shy about taking that to market alongside VxWorks,” Fanelli added.

Features and benefits

Wind River lists the following features and benefits for PNE Linux Edition:

• Supports the Carrier Grade Linux 2.0 specification
• Provides the latest Linux 2.6 kernel technology for device software development
• Leverages ATCA based commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) solutions for control and management plane applications in carrier grade network equipment
• Supports TIPC, a standards-based inter-process communication mechanism that connects with Wind River Platform for Network Equipment and Wind River's General Purpose Platform, VxWorks Edition
• Provides access to a broad ecosystem of third-party runtime and tool vendors
• Enables the flexible use of open source for device development with a tested, open and extendable Linux cross-build system
• Mitigates risk by using a tested and validated Linux environment from a reliable vendor
• Optimizes resources by capitalizing on Wind River Professional Services
• Extensive device software capabilities

Developed in-house

The embedded Linux distribution that forms the basis of PNE Linux Edition was developed in-house by Wind River, despite a joint embedded Linux development initiative co-announced one year ago with Linux marketshare leader Red Hat, according to VP of product development John Fanelli.

Regarding the previously announced relationship with Red Hat, Fanelli confirmed that Wind River is still “working very actively” with Red Hat. “The relationship is continuing, and you'll also see some support in an upcoming announcement that Red Hat is going to be making. We are continuing to work with them — there's really no change there,” he said.

Fanelli noted that the pre-release version of PNE Linux Edition — which Wind River calls a “Reference Design Release” (RDR) — meets all the requirements of the OSDL's Carrier Carrier Grade Linux (CGL) 2.0 specification, but has not been formally “registered” with the OSDL yet. Chris Zaph, senior product manager for Linux platforms, added, “Once we have the general available release, which is scheduled for March, we will start the registration process.”

“Reference Design Release” is a new term for what is essentially a pre-release of the product. Fanelli said, “An RDR is something that is 100 percent feature-complete, that our customers feel very comfortable with going forward into the final design points of their projects, which could be internal projects, or projects that they are in turn slating for their customers, and that can get their applications up and running and demonstrate the device. It's a release that we feel really comfortable with our customers moving forward on. We view [an RDR] as being a stronger term than, say, a beta release.”

Carrier Grade Linux

Carrier Grade Linux stands among Linux's greatest success stories, proving that industry groups can work together effectively on open source projects that broadly benefit entire markets.

The CGL specification is maintained by a working group at the Open Source Development Lab (OSDL) comprised of representatives of major telecom companies as well as telecom-targeting hardware and software vendors. The specification defines requirements for Linux systems in telecom systems. It builds on the Linux Standards Base, mainly adding requirements that enhance reliability and security, resulting in “hardened” Linux systems capable of the kind of robust performance expected of “carrier grade” systems.

CGL has successfully penetrated some of the world's leading telco carriers and equipment manufacturers, including Agilent UK, Alcatel, Cisco, Datang, Deutsch Telecom, Ericsson, Fujitsu, Huawei, Iskratel, Lucent, NEC, NTT, Nokia Networks, Samsung, and Siemens. Among the Linux companies that already have announced CGL-compliant distributions are Connectiva, MontaVista, Red Hat, Novell, TimeSys, and Turbolinux. Of those, only MontaVista and TimeSys are embedded-focused vendors, although Red Hat and Wind River have announced intentions to collaborate in the CGL space.

For further background on Carrier Grade Linux, including OSDL announcements, whitepapers, market analyst findings, and CGL product-related news, read our extensive CGL special report.

Early success

Fanelli would not say how many companies the 1,000 PNE Linux Edition developer seats shipped to, other than “we're in the double digits.” He did, however, list several early customers and partnerships, including Nortel, Tellabs, and Radisys. The latter has adopted Wind River's PNE-based Carrier Grade Linux as an option for its AdvancedTCA platforms.

Asked about developer seat pricing, Fanelli was not specific but confirmed that its ASP (average selling price) was in the $5,000 to $10,000 range. Taking the middle of that range for estimating purposes ($7,500), the 1,000 shipped PNE Linux developer seats may have generated revenue on the order of $7.5 million in the two weeks since shipments commenced on January 31, 2005. An impressive accomplishment, if the assumptions are correct.

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