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Sunday 7 September 2008
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|NewsletterEmbedded Systems
Linux OS removes need for RTOS, says MontaVista
by Steve Bush
Thursday 15 November 2007
MontaVista has removed the need for a real-time operating system in network equipment with the introduction of Linux Carrier Grade Edition 5.0.
“We have been working very closely with customers such as Alcatel-Lucent, Nokia-Siemens Networks, and Ericsson to address their requirements,” Dan Cauchy, director of marketing for MontaVista, told EW. “The real-time performance means you no longer need an RTOS.”
Real-time features include: high resolution nanosecond timers, fast mutual exclusion objects (mutexes) to allow resource sharing, threaded soft and hard IRQ handlers, and application-level priority inheritance and queuing.
Patching is now possible on a live system without rebooting and a live system can be debugged without halting execution or affecting services. “We have achieved 99.9999 per cent availability in live networks,” said Cauchy.
This is also, claims MontaVista, the first carrier operating system to include Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux), developed by the US National Security Agency and intended to prevent malicious software from intruding into a device and taking control.
“SELinux protection can prevent millions of devices from getting infected and being returned to the manufacturer,” said the firm.
According to Cauchy, network gear firms are not the only ones that should be interested. “There is also great interest by the semiconductor and ATCA/µTCA board manufacturers since carrier grade Linux has become the de facto standard for these platforms,” he said.
“We have been working very closely with customers such as Alcatel-Lucent, Nokia-Siemens Networks, and Ericsson to address their requirements,” Dan Cauchy, director of marketing for MontaVista, told EW. “The real-time performance means you no longer need an RTOS.”
Real-time features include: high resolution nanosecond timers, fast mutual exclusion objects (mutexes) to allow resource sharing, threaded soft and hard IRQ handlers, and application-level priority inheritance and queuing.
Patching is now possible on a live system without rebooting and a live system can be debugged without halting execution or affecting services. “We have achieved 99.9999 per cent availability in live networks,” said Cauchy.
This is also, claims MontaVista, the first carrier operating system to include Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux), developed by the US National Security Agency and intended to prevent malicious software from intruding into a device and taking control.
“SELinux protection can prevent millions of devices from getting infected and being returned to the manufacturer,” said the firm.
According to Cauchy, network gear firms are not the only ones that should be interested. “There is also great interest by the semiconductor and ATCA/µTCA board manufacturers since carrier grade Linux has become the de facto standard for these platforms,” he said.
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