From:	 Annette Oevermann <aoevermann@pacifico.com>
To:	 <lwn@lwn.net>
Subject: MontaVista Announces 1st Carrier-Grade Linux Distribution Ever
Date:	 Mon, 08 Apr 2002 08:20:10 -0800

Hello,

MontaVista today announced the industry's first Linux distribution enhanced
to meet the requirements for service availability and reliability of
next-generation telecommunications systems.

The new MontaVista product is scheduled for shipping in May 2002. For more
detailed information, please see the press release included below.

Thank you,
Annette Oevermann
Pacifico, Inc.
408.293.8600 x341
---
MontaVista Announces Industry¹s First Linux Platform Designed for
Carrier-Grade Telecommunications Applications

Enhanced Industry Standard-based Product Boasts Hardened Kernel and ³6
Nines² Reliability

SUNNYVALE, Calif., PARIS and TOKYO, April 8, 2002 ‹ MontaVista Software
Inc., the company powering the embedded revolution, today announced
MontaVista� 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.

³The market is demanding a Linux solution for telecommunications and
MontaVista Software is being responsive to the market needs,² said Jim
Ready, president and CEO of MontaVista Software. ³We are leveraging our
significant expertise in providing telecommunications solutions to deliver a
standards-based, open architecture software platform for the industry¹s
next-generation telecommunications systems, which require virtually zero
down time.²

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 company¹s 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.

³This MontaVista Linux release adds momentum to the emergence of Intel-based
carrier-grade solutions,² said Scott Richardson, general manager of Intel¹s
Network Processing Group. ³Telecommunications customers need fast and
cost-effective access to high-performance, highly available platforms. The
combination of modular Intel building blocks, MontaVista¹s Linux expertise
and its ongoing alignment with emerging OSDL specifications will give these
customers the levels of flexibility and time-to-market they require.²

³Telecommunications equipment manufacturers want to deliver affordable
next-generation solutions at a faster time-to-market,² said Jane Munn, vice
president, IBM Global Telecommunications. ³Carrier-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.²

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.

³The 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,² said Tim
Witham, OSDL lab director. ³MontaVista¹s participation in the OSDL¹s 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.²

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 ³up-time² 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
product¹s 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.

See What Other MontaVista Partners are Saying at the Bottom of the Release.

About MontaVista Software Inc.

MontaVista Software Inc. powers the embedded revolution by providing
open-source systems software solutions for embedded developers. Founded in
1999 by real-time operating system (RTOS) pioneer James Ready, MontaVista¹s
principal products include MontaVista� Linux® Professional Edition and
MontaVista� Linux® Carrier Grade Edition. The Professional Edition is a
Linux-based embedded source and binary distribution, cross development
platform and a set of tool kits for x86/IA-32, PowerPC, StrongARM, MIPS, SH,
ARM, XScale, Xtensa and other microprocessor architectures. The Carrier
Grade Edition is a second-generation high availability product that is an
ideal Linux platform for telecommunications and carrier-grade applications.
MontaVista Software also provides several complementary technology products
addressing specific customer needs such as the Java development environment,
high availability technology, powerful graphics toolkits and more.
MontaVista offers developers a family of products and services for embedded
design and development targeted for applications ranging from communications
infrastructure to consumer devices.

Headquartered in the heart of Silicon Valley, in Sunnyvale, Calif.,
MontaVista Software is a privately held company funded by leading investors
such as Alloy Ventures, US Venture Partners, RRE Ventures, WR Hambrecht +
Co., IBM, Intel Capital, Panasonic and Sony Corporation. For more
information about MontaVista Software, please visit http://www.mvista.com,
email to info@mvista.com or call (408) 328-9200.
Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. MontaVista is a trademark
of MontaVista Software Inc. All other names mentioned are trademarks,
registered trademarks or service marks of their respective companies.

Contacts:
Joe Samagond
Director of Marketing and Corporate Communications
MontaVista Software Inc.
Phone: (408) 328-9234
E-mail: jsamagond@mvista.com

Patricia Colby
PR Strategy and Business Development
Pacifico Inc. 
Phone: (408) 293 8600 x340
E-mail: pcolby@pacifico.com

Support from Key Providers:

Radisys Corporation
³Industry-wide standardization of interfaces is required to drive
interoperability and economy of scale for data services to be widely
available,² said Arif Kareem, senior vice president for RadiSys. ³It makes
sense for telecommunications equipment providers to select open source,
cost-effective operating platforms from innovative companies such as
MontaVista Software.²
www.radisys.com

GoAhead Software
³The open architectural model allows system components including hardware,
operating systems, middleware and applications to interact more
efficiently,² said Michael O¹Brien, CEO of GoAhead Software. ³Additionally,
with the integration of off-the-shelf solutions, such as MontaVista Linux
Carrier Grade Edition and GoAhead SelfReliant Service Availability
middleware, network equipment providers can realize reduced development
costs, time-to-market improvements, and ultimately, more reliable and
available products for their customers.²
www.goahead.com

LVL7 Systems
³Networking equipment providers will now have a choice of industry
standards-based products as a welcome alternative to proprietary operating
systems,² said Ernie Baker, president of LVL7 Systems. ³With the
availability of LVL7¹s FASTPATH software integrated with MontaVista Linux
Carrier Grade Edition, networking OEM vendors can reduce development costs,
improve operational efficiencies and decrease time to market.²
www.lvl7.com