Wind River at LinuxWorld 2008

Linux is gaining a foothold in the automotive market as automotive manufacturers seek alternative means of reducing time-to-market and per-unit device costs. However, the automotive market has unique requirements that exceed the capabilities of the general-purpose Linux kernel, slowing Linux penetration in automotive devices as early adopters work around known gaps. To avoid the fragmentation endemic to other industries, the automotive device industry needs a vendor-neutral, community-based standard that defines the extensions needed to harden the Linux kernel to meet stringent commercial requirements.

Wind River will discuss efforts already underway to define and deliver a truly automotive-grade Linux and identify ways the community can contribute.

The mobile handset industry has been plagued by costly Linux fragmentation for years, and the industry has responded with two open Linux platform initiatives, LiMo Foundation and Open Handset Alliance, which take different routes to solving such fragmentation. Wind River has been in the forefront of supporting commercialization of the Android and LiMo platforms. Tristan Joo, Product Line Executive for Linux Platform on Mobile Handhelds, will provide insight into the various challenges associated with commercializing these platforms and opportunities that lie ahead for mobile handheld OEMs and ecosystem partners.

Embedded developers face many choices when embarking upon a new design: processor architecture, chipset, peripherals, operating system, tools, and myriad others. One key decision that accompanies the choice of embedded Linux is whether to "roll your own" or work with commercial toolkit and services companies. This panel brings together key players from both community and commercial sources for embedded Linux, tools, and services to examine the "buy vs. build" conundrum.

Virtualization in data center and desktop applications is an essential mainstream technology. In the past eight years, Linux and other enterprise software have helped to reinvent mobile/embedded software development, and now virtualization is following suit. This panel examines the drivers for adoption of virtualization in embedded and mobile applications, in particular requirements for preservation of legacy code and performance characteristics; added robustness; security and trusted computing; and IP isolation. It will explore how embedded virtualization differs from its enterprise analog in parameters such as processor support, system software architecture, cross-platform execution, and use of para- and "pure" virtualization technology. Finally it will address the issue of real traction and adoption trends for this technology in emerging intelligent devices designs.