MontaVista Software has announced that its new MontaVista Linux 6 is optimized for OMAP35x processors from Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI). MontaVista Linux 6 is a revolutionary new approach to embedded Linux development that is comprised of Market Specific Distributions (MSD), the MontaVista Integration Platform and MontaVista Zone Content Server. With the MSD, MontaVista eases software development for commercial device designers using OMAP35x processors by giving them the flexibility to tap into a development environment that addresses the specific hardware and end application requirements.

“The new release of MontaVista Linux 6 will allow our customers to develop smart, connected devices based on OMAP35x devices faster and more efficiently,” said Kevin Hawkins, OMAP35x marketing manager, TI. “This comprehensive solution with the MSD and innovative tools, like the MontaVista Integration Platform, challenges customers to engage and collaborate with the open source community to come up with fresh, inventive products ranging from kiosks, digital signage to human monitoring applications.”

Market Specific Distributions are new Linux distributions built on a common framework, and optimized for the processor and its target market. Since the MSD is designed and optimized for TI’s OMAP35x processors, it is feature compatible with TI’s Linux technology, provides additional features such as additional file system support and USB functionality, and is designed to support the full breadth of functionality provided by TI’s processors. Developers can quickly create tailored software distributions that take advantage of the laptop-like performance and power levels of the TI’s OMAP35x processors to create products, such as digital TV and video, point of sale applications (POS), gaming consoles and advanced portable consumer electronics, among others.

The MontaVista Integration Platform is built on open source technology and allows developers to easily extend and customize their software stack, while maintaining control over the build process. With the Integration Platform, developers can fetch and integrate code from other team members, outside vendors or the broader open source community. Additionally, the Integration Platform supports the standard recipe file formats used throughout the open source community. This unprecedented flexibility in a commercial solution enables developers to easily customize their software stacks at all levels – the kernel, device drivers, libraries and applications. Systems developers can consistently build all target-installed software from source – with just one command – and create multiple, reproducible build configurations or perform incremental builds as required.

The MontaVista Zone Content Server delivers source code and other content dynamically to the Integration Platform, freeing the developer from the constant task of searching for new source code and updates. The developer can identify changes, updates, and dependencies in his code via the Integration Platform, with the option of incorporating these changes to his build environment.

MontaVista Linux 6 is in use by beta customers today and will be generally available in July 2009. For more information on MVL6 please visit http://www.mvista.com/mvl6.