Wind River (NASDAQ: WIND), the global leader in Device Software Optimization (DSO), today announced the immediate availability of VxWorks version 6.7 with significant enhancements that enable device manufacturers to address critical business issues by exploiting the capabilities of the latest multicore processors.
VxWorks 6.7 allows system designers to select the optimal multicore design configuration, asymmetric multiprocessing (AMP) or symmetric multiprocessing (SMP), to deliver next-generation devices with higher performance thresholds while maintaining or reducing power consumption. In addition, VxWorks 6.7 is designed to meet the demands of manufacturers looking to lower device materials costs, consolidate system components, increase legacy re-use, and lower operating expenses, while improving time-to-market for high-quality devices with rich functionality.
Wind River’s breadth of support for processors from leading multicore partners such as Intel, Freescale, Cavium, and Raza Microelectronics provides customers the flexibility and choice to optimally design their devices on a range of hardware platforms.
“Wind River is driving multicore adoption in the embedded market by providing the broadest range of multicore software solutions required by device manufacturers,” said Marc Brown, vice president of VxWorks marketing at Wind River. “VxWorks 6.7 reinforces Wind River’s commitment to delivering the broadest multicore platforms and helping our customers overcome the significant technology obstacles of migrating from their existing designs.”
VxWorks 6.7 is supported by a rich set of multicore-aware tools that allow customers to efficiently develop multicore-based devices, providing new capabilities for configuration, build, debug, and simulation. Wind River Workbench development suite is an Eclipse-based collection of tools for debugging, code analysis and testing designed to accelerate time-to-market for developers building devices. In addition, Workbench On-Chip Debugging Edition provides connectivity between the host development environment and the target device via the JTAG or on-chip debugging interface on the device, enabling more efficient and effective hardware bring-up, firmware development, and device driver and BSP generation.
Additional key features and benefits of VxWorks 6.7 include:
Enhancements to SMP support for performance optimizations and CPU core affinity;
Expanded development tools for debug and development of SMP and AMP systems on multicore processors;
Network offload support, optimized for wire speed packet processing on multicore processors;
Hardware optimizations for unicore and multicore processors;
Enhanced capabilities for 4G networking for WiMAX and LTE (Long Term Evolution) applications.
“As a result of the demand for new embedded device functionality, manufacturers are constantly looking to new technologies like multicore to increase processing performance while potentially decreasing BOM cost,” said Stephen Balacco, director of the Embedded Software and Tools Practice at VDC Research Group. “As this business trend continues, Wind River is well-positioned to lead the multicore transition due to its comprehensive multicore software solution.”
Last year, VDC estimated that Wind River was the leading vendor in the 2007 worldwide market for software solutions enabling the development of embedded multicore systems1.
Availability
VxWorks 6.7 is available in the following VxWorks Edition Platforms:
· General Purpose Platform, 3.7
· Platform for Automotive Devices, 3.7
· Platform for Consumer Devices, 3.7
· Platform for Industrial Devices, 3.7
· Platform for Network Equipment, 3.7
VxWorks 6.7 Multiprocessing Add-on, an optional package for multiprocessing for VxWorks 6.7, delivers both the symmetric and asymmetric multiprocessing capability in a single component.
