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Telecom and IT majors create Linaro to expedite rollout of Linux-based devices |
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ARM, Freescale, IBM, Samsung, ST-Ericsson and Texas Instruments have created a not-for-profit company, Linaro, which will be committed to providing new resources and industry alignment for open source software developers using Linux on the world’s most sophisticated semiconductor System-on-Chips (SoCs).  Linaro will invest resources in open source projects that can then be used by Linux-based distributions such as Android, LiMo, MeeGo, Ubuntu and webOS. It will also provide a stable and optimized base for distributions and developers by creating new releases of optimized tools, kernel and middleware software validated for a wide range of SoCs, every six months. This base of software and tools will apply to a wide range of markets, helping reduce time-to-market for products such as smart phones, tablets, digital televisions, automotive entertainment and enterprise equipment.Linaro’s first software and tools release is due out in November 2010, and will provide optimizations for the latest range of ARM Cortex – a family of processors. Linaro will work with the growing number of Linux distributions to create regular releases of optimized tools and foundation software that can be used widely by the industry, increasing compatibility across semiconductors from multiple suppliers. Consequently, Linaro’s resources and open source solutions will enable device manufacturers to accelerate development time, improve performance and reduce engineering time spent on non-differentiating, low-level software. Linux distributions, open source and proprietary software projects will benefit from Linaro's investment, with more stable code becoming widely available as a common base for innovation. “The existence of Linaro will significantly simplify the process of making Linux-based consumer devices available to market,” said Jane Silber, CEO of Canonical. “By standardizing many of the core software components, companies can focus on creating great user experiences on embedded devices through to smart phones. Canonical is delighted to participate in what will be a significant driver of the success of Linux on ARM, in the consumer electronics market.”  The announcement of Linaro's creation coincided with the release of a report from ABI Research, which anticipates that Linux-enabled smartphones, spearheaded by the success of Google’s Android, will comprise 33% of the worldwide smartphone market by 2015. With more than 60,000 smartphones shipping per day, Android has catapulted ahead of other Linux mobile platforms. ABI Research senior analyst Victoria Fodale opined that “Due to its low cost and ability to be easily modified, Linux in the mobile market today is nearly as disruptive as Linux was in server markets a decade ago.” Larger industry players such as Intel, Nokia, and Samsung have also announced two other new Linux-based operating systems, bada and MeeGo. The bada platform is also kernel-configurable so that it can run either on the Linux kernel or a real-time operating system (RTOS) kernel — which makes bada applicable to a wider range of devices than just smartphones.ARM and IBM, and four of the world’s leading application processor companies - Freescale, Samsung, ST-Ericsson and Texas Instruments - will align open source engineering efforts within Linaro. |
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