Performance Technologies Broadens Embedded Linux Product Line

Rochester, N.Y.-based Performance Technologies announced Tuesday additions to its NexusWare Linux-based operating system and development environment to include support for a wide range of single board computer hardware offerings.

The release of NexusWare version 12 expands Linux support to include both x86 and PowerPC processor architectures. The added support extends across the company's entire product line of Carrier Grade Linux (CGL) 3.2-registered operating systems and development environments. The additions provide a common, preintegrated or embedded Linux operating system and development environment for single board computers, voice processing, TDM (time-division multiplexing) and sync serial communications, storage, switching and system management hardware components.

"This allows equipment manufacturers to shorten time-to-market by using a single source for preintegrated hardware and software, giving them a very scalable solution that eliminates costly and unnecessary integration steps," Steve Wigent, product manager for Performance Technologies, told LinuxInsider.

NexusWare Linux

The enhanced NexusWare is built on the 2.6.20 Linux kernel and conforms to OpenHPI, an open source implementation of the Service Availability Forum's hardware platform interface (HPI). It is one of the only Linux distributions to be CGL-3.2 registered, meeting a set of essential Linux capabilities for performance, high availability, security and reliability, and making it an alternative to higher-priced proprietary operating systems.

NexusWare v12 is CGL 4.0-ready, and is expected to be one of the first Linux distributions registered to meet these rigorous requirements.

"The certification process was slowed down with the recent merger of the Free Standards Group (FSG) and Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) into the Linux Foundation," said Wigent, "but that is back on track."

Meanwhile, customers can use the beta release of version 12 until the CGL 4.0 registration is satisfied, added Ed Bizari, vice president of marketing for Performance Technologies.

"Customers will have access to about 98 percent of the full release product," Bizari told LinuxInsider.

Targeted Users

Performance Technologies markets NexusWare Linux to equipment manufacturers and system integrators in the telecom, aerospace and defense industries. Combining the NexusWare Linux OS with the company's hardware provides equipment manufacturers and system integrators with applications including media gateways, managed WAN (wide area network) gateways, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), lawful intercept, radar servers, wireless and IMS (IP multimedia subsystem) infrastructure equipment, high-availability communications systems, monitoring solutions, TDM switches and signaling gateways.

Optional installable packages that NexusWare supports include MTP2 (message transfer part level 2), SIP (session initiation protocol), HDLC (high-level data link control), Frame Relay and X.25.

"NexusWare is preintegrated with our hardware, reducing the need for resources that customers normally commit to test an application design project," said John Grana, senior vice president and general manager of Performance Technologies' Embedded Systems Group. "The integration of other software solutions with hardware also becomes more straightforward."

Design Your Own

NexusWare provides customers with the ability to customize hardware and software integration. The embedded operating system comes with all the standard Linux tools plus Performance Technologies' enhancements.

"Users can tap into our API (application programming interface) to make quick customizations," Wigent said.

The configuration and management tool lets customers test and check the performance, and then upload to flash memory. Performance Technologies preconfigures this image and ships it with the hardware.