OSE and Linux combine in communications platform

A new software platform for Linux-based telecomms and datacomms systems combines the benefits of Enea's OSE RTOS with the flexibility and business benefits of Metrowerks' embedded Linux solution.

A next-generation software platform for Linux-based telecomms and datacomms systems combines the benefits of Enea's proven OSE RTOS with the flexibility and business benefits of Metrowerks' embedded Linux solution.

The platform allows telecomms and datacomms OEMs to deploy a distributed, fault-tolerant, high-availability multiprocessor software solution across multiple processors and blades, while combining the broad application support of Linux with the hard real-time characteristics of OSE.

Enea's new Linux/OSE platform combines the OSE RTOS, OSE/Linux Gateway and Polyhedra database with Metrowerks' Linux, which will initially be available for Freescale Semiconductor's PowerQUICC processors.

Full development and testing of products using this technology is managed with Metrowerks' Platform Creation Suite, CodeWarrior Development Studio and CodeTest analysis tools.

The platform offers flexible licensing, which allows systems designers and developers to populate the system with a variety of processors, operating systems and Metrowerks tools, while freeing them to reconfigure the architecture during the span of the development process.

This integrated OS and tools approach enables developers to leverage the broad spectrum of available Linux-based communications applications within a real-time OSE framework.

This wealth of accessible, highly portable Linux-based applications reduces development time and speeds time to market.

Metrowerks is a leading force in establishing embedded Linux technology as a viable OS for mainstream devices and products.

The company delivers industry-leading Linux OS development products and services throughout the development cycle, from board bring-up and kernel-level debugging to driver development and application creation/analysis.

Metrowerks' embedded Linux solutions include middleware, board support packages, systems integration services, and the award-winning CodeWarrior integrated development environment (IDE).

"Linux provides an excellent operating environment for hosting high-level telecomms and datacomms applications and management services", said Adrian Leufven Vice President Marketing of Enea Embedded Technology, "but Linux currently lacks the full suite of high-availability and carrier grade attributes needed to provide time-critical services like control, fault notification, hot swap, load balancing, and dynamic discovery.

This new solution is the first that lets OEMs enjoy the application-level benefits of Linux in a multiprocessor, multiblade environment without compromising real-time responsiveness and availability".

"This new solution from Enea represents the first coherent and comprehensive approach for extending the capabilities of Linux when maximum performance is mandatory", added Calvin Harrison, NetComm Marketing Director, Metrowerks.

"The solution combines the business benefits of Linux with the performance of a world-class RTOS, and we are excited to play a major role in this innovative approach".

Enea's new Linux/OSE platform, fully configurable within Metrowerks' Platform Configuration Suite, combines Enea's OSE Gateway with Metrowerks' Linux to provide a seamless bridge between Linux and OSE.

This enables Linux and OSE running on a heterogeneous set of processors (CPUs and DSPs) to interact with each other as if they were a single operating system running on a single processor.

The OSE Gateway maps OSE services directly into the Linux space, enabling the Linux-hosted machine to take full advantage of OSE real-time services such as message-based interprocessor communications.

The solution also incorporates Enea's Polyhedra database, which gives Linux and OSE developers a secure, fault-tolerant data repository for embedded systems applications.

The active relational database management system (RDBMS) features a small code footprint and uses a memory-resident design that boosts performance by an order of magnitude relative to conventional disk-based RDBMSs, without sacrificing data security.

Metrowerks' Platform Creation Suite, combined with Metrowerks Linux BSPs, provides a total framework for developing, configuring and deploying open source Linux on a variety of CPUs.

The platform's Target Wisard tools make it easy to configure, build, deploy, and extend complete Linux systems.

The CodeWarrior IDE provides RTOS-aware, source-level debugging, code coverage, hardware evaluation, kernel adaptation, project management and board bring-up capabilities for Linux and OSE operating systems on both PowerPC and StarCore architectures.

In addition, Metrowerks' board support packages provide an out-of-the-box solution for hybrid Linux/OSE systems that combines the Linux and OSE kernels with device drivers, applications, services, libraries, GNU tools, and a deployment wisard.

OSE is a memory-protected RTOS optimised for high-availability, high-reliability distributed communications systems.

Using the host processor's hardware memory management facilities, OSE provides a firewall that enhances reliability and availability by preventing kernel and application processes from corrupting each other.

OSEck (OSE Compact Kernel) is a DSP version of the full-featured OSE RTOS optimised for deeply embedded applications.

OSEck is fully pre-emptive, occupies less than 4Kbyte of memory (in a minimal configuration), and is fully event driven.

OSE and OSEck share the same API and feature a flexible, message-based communications framework that makes it easy to build distributed networks in which applications spanning multiple processors communicate transparently as if residing on the same processor.

Development support for OSE and OSEck includes Softkernel, a simulator that enables designers to develop OSE-based applications on Windows or Solaris operating systems in advance of hardware availability; and Illuminator, a system-level analysis and profiling tool that enables programmers to monitor, control and collect data for applications viewed as a sequence of events (such as context switches and message passing between processes).

OSE also features a complete networking solution that includes TCP/IP and other networking/security protocols, as well as dynamic download, which enhances flexibility by enabling new applications to be downloaded to systems as they operate in the field.

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