Press Releases

Demo featured at Linux World and Expo in New York

Sunnyvale, Calif -- February 26, 2001 -- MontaVista Software today announced that it had demonstrated the first working version of embedded Linux® targeting the Intel® XScale™ microarchitecture. The demo, featured in the MontaVista booth (#403) at the recently-concluded Linux World and Expo in New York, highlighted Hard Hat™ Linux running on Intel's XScale reference platform.

The demo showcased Hard Hat™ Linux booting from flash memory and supporting standard Linux features such as networking and command shells in a diskless system with minimum memory resources. Of the several purveyors of embedded Linux at the event, only MontaVista was able to support Intel platform and to show a full-functioning system to the Linux community at large.

"With Hard Hat Linux for XScale, MontaVista shows its commitment to provide embedded Linux for Intel platforms for mobile computing," commented Jim Ready, MontaVista CEO and embedded industry pioneer. "MontaVista proudly adds Intel XScale to the industry-leading array of embedded CPUs that we support."

MontaVista is making additional investments in optimizing Linux and associated tools to take advantage of XScale-specific architectural features. XScale application developers will benefit from such enhancements which include performance tuning, reduced memory footprint and device interfaces. In keeping with MontaVista and Open Source practices, all such work will be submitted back to the StrongARM/XScale source trees promoting the architecture for the entire community.

Intel Corp. unveiled the XScale platform in August 2000 to carry the successful StrongARM™ technology base into the handheld/wireless marketplace. XScale is a powerful processor in a cost-effective, power efficient integration, targeted at applications in mobile telephony, personal connectivity, handheld PCs, wireless video, and network infrastructure devices like routers and switches. Unique to XScale is its ability to ratchet its power consumption up and down to suit different computing loads and conserve battery life on handheld devices.

Hard Hat Linux - A Pure Play

Hard Hat Linux, from MontaVista, is based entirely on the standard Linux kernel and open-source components. It is royalty-free and optimized for embedded applications, including communications infrastructure and Internet appliances. MontaVista Software supports pervasive-computing development with its Hard Hat Linux Cross Development Kit, and the Hard Hat Linux kernel and embedded operating system. At Comdex 2000, Hard Hat Linux received Linux Journal and LINUX Business Expo's Penguin Playoff Award for Best Embedded Solution, chosen from a field of more than 60 exhibitors at the Linux Business Expo in Las Vegas.

About MontaVista Software, Inc.

MontaVista Software Inc. is a leading provider of open-source software solutions for pervasive computing environments. Founded in 1999 by real-time operating system pioneer James Ready, MontaVista's principal offering is the Linux® operating system tailored for embedded software applications. MontaVista products include Hard Hat™ Linux®, a standard off-the-shelf binary distribution of Linux for x86/IA-32, PowerPC, StrongARM, MIPS and other microprocessor architectures. Hard Hat Linux offers developers a family of open source solutions for embedded design, with targeted offerings for applications ranging from communications infrastructure to thin-client and edge applications.

Headquartered in the heart of Silicon Valley in Sunnyvale, California, MontaVista Software is a privately-held company funded by leading investors such Alloy Ventures, US Venture Partners, RRE Ventures, WR Hambrecht + Co, and Intel Capital. For more information about MontaVista, please visit http://www.mvista.com or call (408) 328-9200.

Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. Hard Hat is a trademark of MontaVista Software Inc. Intel, Pentium and XScale are trademarks of Intel Corporation. StrongARM is a registered trademark of ARM Limited. PowerPC is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. MIPS is a registered trademark of MIPS Technologies. All other names mentioned are trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks of their respective companies.

Contacts:

MontaVista Software:
Joe Samagond
Director of Marketing and Corporate Communications
Phone: (408) 328-9234
E-mail: jsamagond@mvista.com