NEWS

Wind River Celebrates 30 Years of Embedded Innovation

ALAMEDA, Calif. — May 2, 2011 — Wind River today commemorated its 30th year as a pioneer and leader in embedded software. Since its inception in 1981, Wind River has had the honor of collaborating with visionary companies to bring some of the most innovative new technologies to market as well as supplying the heartbeat of connected embedded devices and systems that have controlled much of the world's infrastructure, systems and products.

Wind River was founded in a Berkeley, Calif., garage by a former Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory computer scientist, Jerry Fiddler. The company was initially set up as a consultancy, and early clients included the National Football League and Francis Ford Coppola. Wind River evolved into a world-class products and solutions company with a global customer roster of major corporations and government agencies worldwide, including Alcatel-Lucent, BMW, Boeing, Bombardier Transportation, Mitsubishi, Motorola, NASA, Sony and many more.

"With an impeccable vision for the future of technology, a culture of technical rigor and a focus on customer success, Wind River has been helping companies deliver innovative embedded systems for three decades," said Ken Klein, president at Wind River. "We're extremely grateful for the industry support and the ecosystem of exceptional partners that have collaborated with us throughout our history. We look forward to being a major contributor to the proliferation of billions of intelligent, connected devices in the decades to come."

The following are select key Wind River milestones:

  • 1981: Wind River is created in a garage in Berkeley, Calif. by founder Jerry Fiddler; the name is derived from Wyoming’s Wind River mountain range where Fiddler often vacationed.

  • 1987: VxWorks, now the de facto real-time operating system (RTOS) for embedded devices, is introduced.

  • 1993: Wind River becomes the first embedded computing company to go public.
    1995: Tornado, the first graphically oriented development environment for embedded, is introduced.

  • 1997: VxWorks, the RTOS for NASA's Mars Pathfinder mission, lands on Mars.

  • 1998: Wind River headquarters moves to a new campus in Alameda, Calif.

  • 1999: Wind River acquires the industry’s second largest real-time software maker, Integrated Systems Inc.

  • 2004: Wind River Workbench, the Eclipse-based integrated development environment, is introduced.

  • 2004: Wind River enters the embedded Linux market.

  • 2007: Wind River joins Google's Open Handset Alliance.

  • 2008: Wind River leads the embedded Linux market, only four years after entering the market.

  • 2009: Wind River enters the embedded virtualization market with the introduction of a type 1 embedded hypervisor.

  • 2009: Wind River is acquired by Intel; Wind River is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Intel.

  • 2009: Commercial Android platform, Wind River Platform for Android, is launched.

  • 2011: Wind River and Italy-based Magneti Marelli create first GENIVI-compliant in-vehicle infotainment solution for the automotive industry, initially created for BMW.

  • 2011: Wind River partners with McAfee to develop and support comprehensive embedded and mobile security solutions.

  • 2011: Wind River Linux Secure is introduced, becoming the first commercial embedded Linux platform to achieve Common Criteria Evaluation Assurance Level 4+ (EAL4+) certification.


Wind River has a unique advantage within the embedded industry with its comprehensive software portfolio, which includes industry-leading embedded software operating systems, run-time technologies, development tools, virtual systems development and an embedded test management solution as well as a rich technology heritage of industry-specific software solutions, combined with global professional services and support.

Wind River currently employs over 1,900 employees worldwide and operates in 20 countries. The company's technology is found in more than 1 billion devices and systems, from NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, to London Underground trains and the U.S. Navy’s unmanned X-47B aircraft.

To celebrate this anniversary, Wind River is welcoming messages and input from the public via Twitter. Using hashtag #WR30, people are encouraged to tweet a favorite story, memory or photo related to key milestones in the embedded industry and Wind River's 30th anniversary. The public can also share memories on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/WindRiverSystems.

More information, including an interactive timeline, a company backgrounder and an anniversary video, is available at www.windriver.com/announces/wr30/.

About Wind River
Wind River, a wholly owned subsidiary of Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC), is a world leader in embedded and mobile software. Wind River has been pioneering computing inside embedded devices since 1981, and its technology is found in more than 1 billion products. Wind River is headquartered in Alameda, Calif., with offices in 20 countries. To learn more, visit Wind River at www.windriver.com or blogs.windriver.com.

Contact Information
Jessica Miller
Global Corporate Communications