MontaVista Launches Meld Community, Supports Moblin

MontaVista Software has announced Meld, a new community for developers of embedded Linux devices, which enables device developers to connect and share information on embedded Linux development. In addition, MontaVista announced support for the Moblin Linux stack and Intel Atom processor.

MontaVista officials said Meld provides a forum for developers of all skill levels to connect and share information, ideas and software around embedded Linux designs.

The Meld community will also feature social networking capabilities, in addition to bringing embedded Linux developers together in an online community. In Meld developers can: Participate in discussions groups to collaborate on difficult design problems, sharing their expertise; use Meld’s People Map to find others who share similar interests in architectures, host OS and other topics; and identify subject matter experts and leverage their knowledge and experience to solve their own design challenges.

“Linux is based on the idea of sharing knowledge, and there are strong underpinnings of this throughout the Linux community, yet there isn’t a place for embedded Linux developers to go to collaborate and experience that sense of community,” said Joerg Bertholdt, vice president of marketing at MontaVista Software, in a statement. “Now, through Meld we want all embedded Linux device developers to come together to share their knowledge, collaborate with one another, and speed the design of innovative, commercial solutions running on embedded Linux. A strong community benefits all of its members, and we believe this forum will allow Linux to grow and prosper in embedded devices.”

“The Meld community will offer embedded Linux engineers a compelling connected environment to find and share valuable information, engineering experiences and collaborate on best practices,” said Chris Rommel, an analyst in VDC Research Group’s Embedded Software and Tools Practice. “Moreover, VDC expects that the embedded Linux development community should be particularly receptive to this new forum, especially given the increasing interest in Linux device development and the prominent position of online social networking in today’s society.”

Meanwhile, MontaVista also announced support for the Moblin software platform and Intel's Atom processors. And with more than 2,000 customers, and powering more than 50 million devices worldwide, MontaVista Linux is a leader in providing Linux for the embedded device developer. Company officials said the combination of MontaVista technology with the Moblin open source platform and the Atom processor provides a strong foundation for developers looking to build compelling embedded Linux applications.

“Intel’s Atom architecture and MontaVista Linux based on Moblin is the best combination for our high-performance, multimedia gaming machine platform EX6,” said Jyoji Usami, president of Videomail Japan Inc. “MontaVista’s commercial quality and support combined with access to the Atom and Moblin ecosystem allow us to bring a highly differentiated gaming platform to market very quickly.”

Moblin is an open source project hosted on Moblin.org. Moblin is basically an optimized Linux software stack and technology framework for building visually rich, dynamic and connected applications that run on devices based on Intel Atom processor technology. The Moblin architecture is designed to support multiple platforms and usage models, ranging from netbooks to Mobile Internet Devices (MID), to various embedded usage models, such as the In Vehicle Infotainment systems.

“We are excited to be part of the Moblin community," Bertholdt said. "It offers compatibility with existing and future x86 development environments and tools allowing reuse of existing, mature development infrastructure. By delivering MontaVista’s embedded Linux commercialization based on Moblin, device manufacturers can bring commercial devices to market quickly and cost effectively. They will be able to fully realize the benefits of the MontaVista and Moblin investment across a very broad range of different embedded applications, such as multimedia entertainment devices, industrial devices with extended life time and temperature requirements and green consumer electronics."

Ram Peddibhotla, open source business director, Intel Software and Services Group, said, “The Moblin software platform and Intel Atom processors provide a foundation for innovation by offering overall performance advantages, fast boot and software compatibility."

MontaVista Linux for Intel Atom will be available in mid-March, MontaVista officials said.