Embedded Systems
Communications and data service networks have traditionally been built on proprietary platforms that
had to meet critical requirements in areas such as availability, reliability, performance, and service
response time.
These proprietary systems were comprised of custom hardware, operating system, middleware, and often
included proprietary technologies and interfaces. Such proprietary approaches to system architecture
fostered vendor lock-in, very served to limit design flexibility and freedom, and produced platforms
that were and are very expensive to maintain and expand.
Today, those same service providers and
carriers are challenged to drive down costs while still maintaining carrier class characteristics
for platforms to provide service and mission critical applications in an all-IP environment. They are
in a position today where they must move away from specialized proprietary architectures, and towards
commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) approaches and building practices.
As a result, proprietary legacy
systems no longer offer a viable approach. They are expensive to buy, maintain, and scale. As a
result, the industry is moving away from specialized proprietary systems toward open platforms that
are based on industry established standards and common practices.
While certainly agree that embedded Linux is not a solution to all of these requirements, there are
many applications where it does apply and provides a less expensive solution without vendor lock-in.
To see some of our thoughts on when embedded Linux does apply, please download our whitepaper :
Using Linux in Embedded Systems : Where and
When does it Apply?
