IBM Corp is widening its interest in embedded systems software and has given a ringing endorsement to QNX Software Systems Ltd by agreeing to use the Canadian company’s real-time operating system in a new line of ‘pervasive computing’ solutions which are to be described in more detail over the next few weeks. IBM itself wasn’t very clear about what it means by pervasive computing but QNX told us to expect devices which they hope will become widely used for specific vertical industry applications such as radiation detection and management within the medical instrumentation industry. Consumer electronics, office equipment and telecom services are other intended markets. The two have agreed to co-develop system software for this class of device and have cross licensed technologies which will be integrated into their respective products. While IBM has licensing agreements with other real-time operating system suppliers the deal with QNX suggests Big Blue is hedging its bets over the use of JavaOS for Business which it is co-developing with Sun Microsystems Inc for similar kinds of network embedded devices. QNX says the kinds of technology QNX has licensed from IBM for integration into Neutrino, a next-generation, multipltaform version of its Intel-only QNX operating system, have previously been used only in desktop applications, not embedded devices.

CE alternative

Kanata, Ontario-based QNX aims to become the number two real-time system software supplier behind Microsoft Corp, claiming it will overhaul the current number two vendor Wind River Systems Inc within two years. It claims its Unix-alike operating system is the only true microkernel available with memory protection and a full range of driver support. Its modular architecture allows it to be upgraded on the fly and used in devices with footprints ranging from 32Kb to several gigabytes in size. It wants to be known as the CE alternative. QNX, one of the real-time companies that has licensed Hewlett-Packard Cos controversial implementation of the Java virtual machine for embedded applications, says none of its Java work will pass to IBM under their agreement though it will develop compatibility with IBMs Java technologies in Neutrino, which is due out in beta versions by the third quarter of the year. The multi-platform Neutrino will offer broader real-time functionality than the vanilla QNX 4.x software – it’s up on PowerPC and MIPS in addition to Intel – but the company says it will develop 5.x releases of QNX. The company, which has been around since 1980 marketing its microkernel technologies has become galvanized in recent months, mainly it says, because a volume market for embedded devices has started to develop, especially around the use of Windows CE. Last month, Cisco Systems Inc licensed QNX’s technology as its preferred realtime OS, hoping to increase the reliability and availability of data-voice-video networks. Cisco will use it on new routing devices even though it currently has no Intel Corp x86-based product. QNX, which also has a strategic partnership with software tools company Metrowerks Inc, whose CodeWarrior tools will become the main software development tools for QNX/Neutrino (CI No 3,422), says it’s been working on its Neutrino plan for four years. It says Windows CE main failing is not so much the technology itself – of course it claims Neutrino is more robust than all other real-time microkernels, including CE – but because all CE products look the same, having the Microsoft brand. It says its strategy enables OEMs to brand QNX-based products under their own name. Privately-held QNX claims to be financing an expansion of its operations purely through profits, with no outside capital or debt financing. It has 168 staff now, 47% of them developers, and expects to be up to 200 by the end of the summer. It is opening offices in the UK and France and other regions and increasing the number of its US direct sales outlets. It says it has no plan to file for a public offering in the next nine to 12 months, time it will use to add other OEMs and partners.