Thales Picks MontaVista Linux to Upgrade its Secure
Electronic Car Park System

System Used Successfully at Paris Orly and Charles de Gaulle Airports


Real Time Show, PARIS, March 30, 2004 — MontaVista Software, Inc., the company powering the embedded revolution, and Thales Group, a world leader in secure integrated fare systems for public transport , today confirmed that Thales e-Transactions CGA S.A., the Thales Group's Transport & Services business, has standardised on MontaVista® Linux® for its new advanced and secure electronic car park fare collection system - called Largo WiLi. This new system incorporates state-of-the-art technology and has been operating successfully at Paris Orly airport since May 2003 and at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport since November 2003.

Thales is the leader in secure public car park systems in France. The company has upgraded its high-performance electronic fare collection system, which is specifically designed for airport or urban car parks, and chosen MontaVista Linux for its new Largo WiLi entry/exit terminals and automatic payment machines. The new high-performance embedded system significantly increases data processing speed, and, with its compact design and more robust computing structure, is perfectly suited to the customer's requirements. The new equipment offers better resistance to vandalism and environmental conditions, and the user display is more intuitive, combining simplicity, precision and reliability.

"We were using an in-house proprietary RTOS, based on DOS, and wanted to scale to a smaller-sized embedded operating system while retaining all existing functionalities," says Jean-Louis Olié, Chairman of Thales e-Transactions CGA S.A., the Thales Group's Transport & Services business. "With MontaVista Linux, we were able to have a modern OS and integrate new functions, without requiring memory extensions or a larger processor."

The Thales Largo WiLi secure car park system relies on embedded PC structures, which are Intel x86-based embedded platforms, each with a National Geode processor and Compact Flash. The embedded PC structures can communicate with one another and with a central server across an Ethernet network. This high-performance electronic fare collection system can be integrated into an existing centrali s ed computer system and can process several different payment options. It can also help to supervise the various car parks remotely.

"For this high-performance electronic fare collection solution from Thales, the ability of MontaVista Linux to scale to a smaller footprint was key," Stéphane Deruelle, sales director, Western Europe, MontaVista Software. "MontaVista Linux also provides Thales with an open and flexible architecture that is modular and able to adapt to a car park system's particular needs."

 

Thales car park ystem - Largo WiLi
Largo WiLi is a secure integrated system, specifically adapted for use in public car parks that are integrated into larger management systems. It can be connected to external systems or equipment at any level of centrali s ation. The Largo system is scalable to meet customer needs and is fully functional, thanks to its Ethernet network and its state-of-the-art operating system.

MontaVista Linux Professional Edition
MontaVista Linux Professional Edition (Pro) is the industry-leading comprehensive embedded operating system and cross development environment. It includes a modern OS featuring real-time functionality, multi-process capabilities and multi-threaded remote debugging, with extensive bundled software components including rich networking. Pro targets more than 25 processors from eight industry-leading architectures and supports more than 100 boards offering developers great freedom to choose the elements for their development environment, which, in effect, allows them to speed cutting-edge products to market faster and at a lower cost.

Availability
MontaVista Linux Professional Edition 3.1 is available as a product subscription through MontaVista Software and its worldwide distribution channels. MontaVista Linux product subscriptions provide developer teams with the MontaVista Linux kernel, deployment components, utilities, development tools, software updates, access to the MontaVista Zone (customer resource portal), comprehensive technical support a nd hands-on Linux training classes.

About the Thales Group
Thales is a world leader in professional electronics in three key markets: Aerospace, Defence and Information Technology & Services (IT&S). The Group employs 63,000 people in nearly 50 countries worldwide, and generated revenues of €10,6 billion in 2003.

A major player in security markets, Thales e-Transactions CGA SA (www.thales-transportservices.com) provides a broad range of systems and value-added services for automatic fare and toll collection, operator support, passenger information, car park management and secure electronic transaction applications. Thales has a worldwide network of local facilities and an international call centre for customer care and support.

About MontaVista Software, Inc.
MontaVista Software is a leading global supplier of systems software and development tools for intelligent connected devices and associated infrastructure. MontaVista powers the embedded revolution by providing Open Source GNU/Linux-based software solutions. Founded in 1999 by real-time operating system pioneer James Ready, MontaVista offers a family of products that address software developer needs encompassing applications ranging from communications infrastructure to consumer electronics. MontaVista products include MontaVista Linux Professional, Consumer Electronics and Carrier Grade Editions. MontaVista DevRocket, a powerful integrated development environment, delivers state-of-the-art development tools across all the product editions. MontaVista Graphics offers a rich GUI development tools platform.

Headquartered in the heart of Silicon Valley, in Sunnyvale, Calif., MontaVista Software is a privately held company funded by leading investors such as Alloy Ventures, US Venture Partners, RRE Ventures, WR Hambrecht + Co., IBM, Intel Capital, Sony, Panasonic (Matsushita), Toshiba America and Yamaha Corporation. For more information about MontaVista Software, please visit http://www.mvista.com .

Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. MontaVista is registered trademark of MontaVista Software Inc. All other names mentioned are trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.


Contacts:

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

Patricia Colby
PR Strategy and Business Development
Pacifico, Inc.
Phone: (408) 293 8600 x340
E-mail: pcolby@pacifico.com

Thales
Chrystèle Moriceau
Phone: +33 (0)1 44 59 68 95
E-mail: chrystele@clipping.fr