SUNNYVALE, Calif., PARIS and TOKYO, April 8, 2002 — MontaVista
Software Inc. today announced MontaVistaTM Linux®
Carrier Grade Edition 2.1, the first carrier-grade quality Linux
distribution targeted for edge and core telecommunications
including applications for the converging IP and voice networks,
optical networks, signaling gateways and Voice over IP (VoIP)
gateways, and many other applications.
“The market is demanding a Linux solution for telecommunications
and MontaVista Software is being responsive to the market needs,”
said Jim Ready, president and CEO of MontaVista Software. “We are
leveraging our significant expertise in providing
telecommunications solutions to deliver a standards-based, open
architecture software platform for the industry’s next-generation
telecommunications systems, which require virtually zero down
time.”
MontaVista Linux Carrier Grade Edition enhances standard Linux
with additional high reliability and availability features for
deployment in carrier-grade environments, and is designed
specifically to address the needs of telecommunications equipment
manufacturers. Based on a significant open source development
project initiated by MontaVista Software with contributions from
other open source projects, it provides kernel and driver
hardening, monitoring and fault management services, and other
carrier-grade features.
MontaVista Linux Carrier Grade Edition builds on the company’s
expertise in embedded Linux and high availability. The new product
incorporates all the benefits of the MontaVista flagship product,
MontaVista Linux Professional Edition, which includes a fully
preemptive kernel and real-time scheduling, small footprint targets
and journaling file systems. It also builds on key technologies
from the MontaVista High Availability Framework, such as PICMG 2.12
hot swap capabilities (hot replace and hot insert), redundant
Ethernet, and resource monitoring and event management
subsystem.
“This MontaVista Linux release adds momentum to the emergence of
Intel-based carrier-grade solutions,” said Scott Richardson,
general manager of Intel’s Network Processing Group.
“Telecommunications customers need fast and cost-effective access
to high-performance, highly available platforms. The combination of
modular Intel building blocks, MontaVista’s Linux expertise and its
ongoing alignment with emerging OSDL specifications will give these
customers the levels of flexibility and time-to-market they
require.”
“Telecommunications equipment manufacturers want to deliver
affordable next-generation solutions at a faster time-to-market,”
said Jane Munn, vice president, IBM Global Telecommunications.
“Carrier-grade Linux, with its open interfaces and leading-edge
technology, will help bring these solutions to telecommunications
customers. By working with the IBM Linux Technology Center,
MontaVista Software is moving aggressively to enable carrier-grade
Linux-based solutions that meet the stringent requirements of the
core network infrastructure.”
MontaVista Software has a strong commitment to providing
carrier-grade solutions and is actively participating in several
industry initiatives to define carrier-grade and high availability
standards. These include the OSDL Carrier Grade Linux Working Group
(which includes Intel, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Cisco, Nokia and
Alcatel as members) and the Service Availability Forum (which
includes Compaq, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Nokia, Radisys and
Force as members). As specifications from these organizations
emerge, MontaVista is committed to incorporating these into its
Carrier Grade Edition product.
“The availability of an open Linux platform that addresses the
requirements of the telecommunications industry is a major step in
moving Linux and open source software technology into these
important applications,” said Tim Witham, OSDL lab director.
“MontaVista’s participation in the OSDL’s Carrier Grade Linux
Working Group shows its commitment to the development of common
building blocks to allow software and hardware vendors maximum
control over their products and time-to-market.”
Availability
MontaVista Linux Carrier Grade Edition will be available for
Intel architecture platforms in the second quarter of 2002.
Subscribers to the MontaVista High Availability Framework product
will be able to migrate seamlessly and without additional cost to
the MontaVista Linux Carrier Grade Edition product. Subscribers of
MontaVista Linux Carrier Grade Edition will be able to upgrade to a
next-generation version of the product when industry carrier-grade
Linux specifications are further defined. Support for other
architecture platforms is also planned. For more product
information, please visit
http://www.mvista.com/products/mvl_cge/mvlcge_overview.html.
Background
High Availability is a term for technology that enhances the
“up-time” of computer systems by distributing functionality across
multiple CPUs. Highly available systems reduce single points of
failure in a single chassis. In response to hardware and software
failures, high availability systems facilitate the rapid transfer
of control (fail-over) from a faulty CPU, peripheral, or software
component to a functional one, while preserving operations or
transactions in progress at the time of failure.
Carrier-grade is a term for next-generation telecommunications
products that require 5 nines or 99.999 percent reliability.
MontaVista Linux Carrier Grade Edition provides key technologies
that enable 5 nines solutions. The product’s hot swap capabilities,
combined with redundancy support for networking and storage
subsystems, provide a higher level of availability than is realized
with standard Linux operating systems. These features, along with a
fault management framework and hardware redundancy, will enable a
system to reach 5 nines or even 6 nines of availability.