Embedded Operating Systems Take Flight

Embedded operating systems and software tools, long relegated to esoteric applications in military and aerospace systems, are breaking out big time into the mainstream, propelled by demand from developers of cell phones and consumer-electronics devices ranging from MP3 players and set-top boxes to video recorders.

While Microsoft's embedded Windows CE operating system continues to dominate the PDA market, a coterie of smaller embedded software providers are positioning themselves for broader, emerging opportunities in smart phones and consumer devices. To do so, they're fielding high-reliability software, which is seen as crucial to embedded success, since developers of downsized devices must avoid at all costs the "blue screen of death" that plagues PCs. At the same time, embedded versions of Linux are seeing a surge in demand because they're viewed as cost-effective solutions that are technologically up to the new applications at hand.

A spate of recent announcements is placing such software in the limelight. On Tuesday, Green Hills Software of Santa Barbara, Calif. on Tuesday added to its offerings by releasing a safety-critical version of the embedded C++ programming language for use with its Integrity real-time operating system. MontaVista Software of Sunnyvale, Calif., on Monday announced that a version of its embedded Linux, aimed at telecommunications applications, had passed muster as a high-reliability OS by achieving compliance with the Service Availability Forum's specifications. In March, Wind River expanded its support for open-source software by contributing software to the Eclipse project.

And Microsoft, which remains intent on using its PDA beachhead to expand its embedded presence, will host thousands of developers next week at its Mobile & Embedded DevCon 2005 in Las Vegas. The Redmond software giant has already had some success in that regard with its Windows Mobile platform, which is aimed at smartphones; Bill Gates is expected to detail the company's embedded roadmap in his keynote speech on Tuesday. One tine of his strategy includes Longhorn Embedded, an upcoming high-end offering aimed at retail point-of-sale terminals, advanced cable set-top boxes, and the like

However, Microsoft's embedded ambitions aren't likely to blunt the success of Linux, which is finding rapid acceptance.

"Embedded Linux is doing great," said Chris Lanfear, the lead embedded analyst at Natick, Mass.-based market researchers Venture Development Corp., in an interview. "The commercial market for embedded Linux was $65 million in 2003. There's probably another chunk that same size that people aren't paying for. They're hacking their Linux from Web-based sources or using open-source software."

MontaVista holds about half of the market for embedded-Linux subscriptions, tools, and related services, according to Lanfear's 2003 figures, the last full year for which he's compiled complete data. Other major players include TimeSys Corp., Red Hat and LynuxWorks Inc. Among other major embedded players, Wind River entered the Linux market in the fall of 2003; Green Hills sells non-Linux software.

During its rise, Linux has taken business away from some old-line, real-time operating systems, such as Wind River's VxWorks. Moving forward, its success should make it a potent competitor for Microsoft's embedded offerings.

"When we started six years ago, people thought we were crazy," Jim Ready, CEO and founder of MontaVista, said in an interview. "Did we know where Linux would be strategic and have the biggest growth? Not really. We purposely had a very general-purpose embedded Linux. If you use that as a feeder system, that is, if you get into early designs and research and development, you'll start seeing markets evolve."

MontaVista has leveraged that into a strong business as a supplier of a version of embedded Linux tuned for communications, which it sells to cellular-handset-makers Motorola, and to the team of NEC and Matsushita. The company has also sold its software to Sony for use in its HDTVs, among other design wins.

Still, some observers wonder whether a company can build a long-term business on open-source software, the basis of which can be freely obtained. "There's a very common misconception that you have to give away your software for free and make your money in services," answered Ready, who said he's toted up nearly $100 million in sales over the past four years. "We sell to Motorola, which is making smartphones. They know full well that you can't get a source-code base of 30 million lines of code, where there are going to be some changes every day, for free."

The ascendance of Linux has forced some vendors of traditional OSes—notably, Wind River—to embrace open-source software. Wind River has added a Linux offering of its own alongside its proprietary VxWorks OS. It has become a strategic-developer member of the Eclipse Foundation, and last year linked up with Red Hat in a embedded Linux partnership.

Despite its popularity, the embedded market won't become synonymous with Linux. "I don't think Linux will kill traditional embedded OSes," said Lanfear. "Linux isn't appropriate for all embedded applications; people aren't trying to control jet aircraft with Linux."

Such applications instead would call for the likes of a VxWorks or Green Hills' Integrity OS. Green Hills emphasized the viability of Integrity for such stringent usage in its Tuesday announcement that its embedded C++ programming language has received what's called DO-178B Level A certification for use with the company's Integrity-178B product, which is also so certified.

"The DO-178B standard is the FAA standard for flight-critical software," Green Hills president and CEO Dan O'Dowd said, in an interview. "The Level A certification means the software can be used to fly an airplane. The software has to work. People think software can't be made reliable, but it can. It requires rigorous coding, documentation and testing."

O'Dowd caused a industry firestorm last year, when he gave a speech to an industry forum in which he charged that Linux is fundamentally insecure and open to security breaches. Today, O'Dowd doesn't back down from that viewpoint, believing that security fixes can't be retrofitted into OSes such as Linux or Windows.

"People have been told by IBM and Microsoft that security is a fantasy, that all they can hope for is patching problems after they occur, apologizing to your 300,000 customers after your database is broken into and they've got everybody's social security number," O'Dowd said.

Getting a Common Criteria certification, which is a industry standard that indicates an OS has demonstrated certain levels of security, is an option O'Dowd believes software vendors should take advantage of.

In the embedded arena, O'Dowd said secure OSes shouldn't be just for military and aerospace applications. "If you're a set-top-box manufacturer, you don't want people to be able to hack in and get free programming," he said.

Moving forward, as set-top-boxes cell phones and other consumer applications converge to drive embedded demand, analyst Lanfear believes all the industry players will benefit. "Green Hills is probably the fastest growing company in the marketplace," Lanfear said. "Wind River is getting their house in order and they've returned to growth. And embedded Linux is growing. So everybody's doing well."