Singh noted that today's embedded systems have functionality comparable to desktop PCs, and require extensive code written in high-level languages. "Open source and open standards allows you to build modules you can reuse, saving time to market and saving costs," he said. Singh became LynuxWorks CEO in September 2006.

Other emerging trends in embedded systems, Singh noted, include multicore architectures, the increasing use of FPGAs, and growing concerns about security. In the post-911 world, he said, security concerns extend far beyond military and aerospace applications. Singh said that financial, medical, and automotive applications also need security, and will eventually adopt aspects of the Multiple Independent Levels of Security (MILS) "separation-kernel architecture," in which different software components reside in protected address spaces.

Singh asserted that LynuxWorks has based its products on open standards "since day one," with early compliance to Posix. Now, he said, the company's LynxOS 5 operating system — introduced at this year's Embedded Systems Conference — conforms to the IEEE 1003.13-2003 PSE53 Posix profile, which he called the "most practical and useful" Posix interface standard. PSE53 provides MMU support. LynxOS 5 supports a subset of PSE54, which brings in Unix-like file system capabilities.

Singh added that LynuxWorks was one of the first RTOS vendors to embrace Linux. He said, however, that Linux still provides only a "fuzzy soft real-time" capability, even though it's "good enough" for many embedded applications. LynuxWorks offers a Linux application binary interface (ABI) for its LynxOS RTOS, letting users run pure Linux applications on top of the RTOS, Singh said.

LynuxWorks announced Luminosity 3, the latest version of its Eclipse-based toolset, at the Embedded Systems Conference, and Singh made a strong pitch for the Eclipse framework as a standard for tool interoperability. Eclipse, he said, "provides a very consistent user interface for lots of things" and allows the reuse of software development tools. Luminosity 3 claims full compliance with the latest Eclipse 3.2 release.

Ian Skerret, director of marketing for the Eclipse Foundation, offered a brief review of the history of Eclipse and noted two key efforts in the embedded space — the C Development Tools (CDT) project, and the Device Software Development Platform (DSDP). By offering a common framework, he said, Eclipse fosters collaboration among team members, and lets users customize or add tools. "If everyone is on a common development platform, you get the integration and interoperability across the tool chain the customer requires," he said.

In addition to the Posix PSE support, LynxOS 5 boasts an updated Linux ABI that lets users take advantage of third-party applications such as Oracle 9, Apache, ACE-TAO, PostGres, and QT. LynxOS 5 also claims increased memory, enhanced graphics, and new networking technology, including support for IPv4, IPv6, IPSec, and quality of service (QoS) features.

LynxOS 5 also adds support for symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) multicore architectures, starting with the Intel PowerPC. It can scale up to 32 processors, said Robert Day, vice president of marketing at LynuxWorks.