Berkeley Software Distribution Unix house Berkeley Software Design Inc, Colorado Springs, Colorado, will launch itself into the world of network devices in September with a version of its BSD/OS Unix kernel tailored for embedded iAPX-86, PowerPC and Sparc system developers. It thinks folk building Network Computers, point-of-sale systems, automated teller machines, firewalls, handheld communicators, single system boards, computer-integrated telephony equipment and network access devices, including the hub and router merchants, will be attracted to its binary packages and source terms. The as yet unnamed product – a marketing plan is to be thrashed out this week – will run in 2Mb and come with a set of C++ development tools for customizing kernel functions. Berkeley Software, which retreated from the mainstream Unix-on-iAPX-86 file server business some time ago to concentrate on Internet servers, says the PowerPC implementation is done and the Sparc version will be complete by the launch date. It doesn’t plan to take on the real-time microkernel Unix houses. Its BSD 4.4-based kernel is a modified version of the code that features in the Berkeley Software Internet Gateway and Internet Gateway for Novell Inc NetWare local network products which are bundled with the Apache Web server and other Internet tools but also run with Netscape Communications Corp servers. Berkeley Software claims some 24,000 Gateway installations, mostly with Internet service providers, though it has other customers still running its fully-fledged iAPX-86 Unix. It also has a bunch of Internet firewall vendors using its stuff, including Secure Computing Inc and Trusted Information Systems Inc. Source and binary code pricing for the new kernel has not been set but the Internet suite starts at around $5,000 and $1,000 respectively. The 50-person privately-held Berkeley Software claims to be achieving quarter-on-quarter growth and profitability: an initial public offering beckons. It expects the Internet Gateway suites to remain its core product lines. It has ex-IXI Ltd and Santa Cruz Operation Inc executive Randy Brem on board as vice-president of embedded technology sales to guide the new products. Last week, Milkyway Net-works Inc, San Jose, California announced that it will be using BSD/OS as the underlying operating system for its Black Hole 3.0 Internet firewall for personal computers. The company claims that Black Hole is the first application-level firewall to support virtual private networks.
