MontaVista’s Mobilinux 4.0 for mobile and wireless devices

MontaVista has announced Mobilinux, a new embedded Linux Operating System for mobile and wireless devices. Mobilinux 4.0 is based on the Linux 2.6 kernel, it is has been specifically tailored for wireless handsets and mobile devices, with requirements for power management, hard real-time performance, fast start-up (less than 1 second), and small footprint.

Mobilinux Open Framework, an industry-wide program for the creation and promotion of Linux-based handset reference architectures will allow for open and flexible features. Phone designs can be broad by simply enabling options within the platform or custom designing applications depending on the devices requirements.

“The pressure to deliver new, unique handset features and mobile data services is causing software requirements to outstrip the capabilities of aging real-time operating systems,” said Kevin Morgan, vice president, Engineering, MontaVista Software. “Handset manufacturers see Mobilinux as an opportunity to move towards an open, full-featured operating system. Unlike proprietary operating systems, Mobilinux is a scalable platform allowing mobile operators, handset manufacturers, and developers to build differentiated feature- and smart-phones.”