“In most regards, TimeSys resembles its competitors–MontaVista,
LynuxWorks and IPO-bound Lineo. It develops its own version of the
Linux operating system designed for use in small “embedded” devices
such as network routers. The company offers services to help
customers design products using the software as well as sells
programming tools.”
“But the company also has its own individual flavor, said
chairman and cofounder Ragunathan Rajkumar. First, its Linux/RT
version is “hard real-time,” meaning that it’s guaranteed to
respond within a fixed amount of time–a tricky programming issue
but one that makes the software appealing to some specialized
customers.“
“Second, the company will sell software that allows real-time
Java software to run on its Linux systems, Rajkumar said.”