Using MontaVista Linux[] 6 to get the most out of open source software and improve development efficiencies

The Linux operating system has become the dominant choice for new development projects over any other embedded OS for many different reasons. This paper will outline the challenges of embedded Linux development and the obstacles that can push software engineers off the path of rapidly delivering embedded products to market.

It will then provide an overview of MontaVista Linux 6 and show examples of how MontaVista Linux 6 helps to streamline the embedded Linux development process, delivering a faster time to market.

Communications networks are very different from other kinds of computing applications. Networks require both very high reliability and very high performance. Not only must they process large volumes of data at high speed, but they must do so while limiting their downtime to minutes per year. Network failures can have huge economic consequences and can even result in the loss of life. Additionally, in this post-9/11 world, failure also has a national security dimension.

This technical whitepaper introduces MontaVista Linux[] Carrier Grade Edition– what it is, how it evolved, and how it provides a foundation for developing and deploying carrier-grade applications like those described above.

One of the great strengths of open source software is the thriving and varied community of developers and software and the many alternatives this presents. However, a developer can invest many man-hours investigating the best
solution for a particular development environment. In fact a substantial amount of time can be spend merely understanding what the alternatives are. A developer on an embedded Linux project can waste a great deal of time simply surveying and selecting from the available components.

One example is enough to illustrate the potential impact network failures can have. In 1991, a packet-switched network failed. This failure caused hundreds of millions of dollars in financial losses, knocked out air traffic control in the New York City region for over 8 hours, and disrupted 85,000 travelers.

Building communication networks that are reliable and perform well is economically and technically challenging: the physics, the finances, and the computing are often state-of-the-art.