AMD, AppliedMicro, Calxeda, Canonical, Cavium, Facebook, HP, Marvell and Red Hat join existing Linaro members ARM, HiSilicon, Samsung and ST-Ericsson to form new group focused on accelerating Linux development for ARM servers

Santa Clara, US - 9 Nov 2012 -- Linaro, the not-for-profit engineering organization developing open source software for the ARM architecture, announced today the formation of the Linaro Enterprise Group (LEG) and the addition of AMD, Applied Micro Circuits Corporation, Calxeda, Canonical, Cavium, Facebook, HP, Marvell and Red Hat as Linaro members.

With significant market interest in energy-efficient ARM-based servers, industry leaders have joined together through Linaro, creating LEG, to collaborate and accelerate the development of foundational software for ARM Server Linux. LEG benefits have broad industry implications, including time to market acceleration, lower development costs, and access to innovative and differentiated systems, fundamental to the ARM ecosystem.

The new LEG members have joined existing Linaro members ARM, Samsung and ST-Ericsson to create a shared software engineering team and steering committee. The team will build on Linaro’s experience of bringing competing companies together to work on common solutions and enable OEMs, commercial Linux providers and System on a Chip (SoC) vendors to collaborate in a neutral environment on the development and optimization of the core software needed by the rapidly emerging market for low-power hyperscale servers.

Speaking at ARM’s largest annual developer conference, TechCon, ARM CEO Warren East said “The significance of key industry players coming together like this to develop new aspects of the ecosystem is showing the transformational position the industry is now in. As power and energy become increasing costs to business, there continues to be a need to drive down costs and this means a total reinvention of the server space. There will be a range of server solutions based on ARM technology as the entire business community looks to reduce cost of ownership and achieve energy efficiency. Ultimately, it is the partnership approach which is vital to encourage innovation in this space and we are delighted to see LEG shares this vision. By changing the way we process data, the opportunity for a smarter, more connected future can be truly realized.” Concurrently, at the Linaro Connect event in Copenhagen, the LEG engineering team is engaged in face-to face meetings as part of Linaro’s regular engineering conference at which over 300 engineers from more than 80 companies have been defining the future of Linux on ARM.

“Linaro is building a high-quality software engineering team that is working with our members on the development of key enabling software for the new generation of low-power, high-performance, hyperscale servers,” said George Grey, CEO of Linaro, “We are especially pleased with the broad industry support and to be working with commercial Linux providers and OEMs in addition to SoC vendors to ensure that we meet the requirements of all members of the ecosystem.”

Linaro uses a unique business model where multiple companies jointly invest in a software engineering team that creates core open source software in a collaborative and transparent environment. The effectiveness of Linaro’s approach has been demonstrated by Linaro becoming the third-largest company contributor to the Linux 3.5 kernel*. Linaro’s contribution to improving ARM’s support in the open source Linux community has recently been recognized by Linus Torvalds**.

“Linux is driving innovation in every area of computing from mobile and embedded to the cloud. Linaro’s enterprise efforts will bring together software engineers to help accelerate Linux development for ARM servers, and we’re confident that this new server-focused group will advance Linux in these areas and offer additional choices to Linux users around the world.” said Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation.

ARM servers are expected to be initially adopted in hyperscale computing environments, especially in large web farms and clusters, where flexible scaling, energy efficiency and an optimal footprint are key design requirements. The Linaro Enterprise Group will initially work on low-level Linux boot architecture and kernel software for use by SoC vendors, commercial Linux providers and OEMs in delivering the next generation of low-power ARM-based 32- and 64-bit servers. Linaro expects initial software delivery before the end of 2012 with ongoing releases thereafter.

*Source: Who wrote 3.5? Greg Kroah-Hartman, LWN, 25 July 2012: https://lwn.net/Articles/507986/ (subscription required)

** Source: Torvalds touts Linux’s advances in power, ARM and cell phones Paula Rooney, ZDNet, 30 August 2012: http://www.zdnet.com/torvalds-touts-linuxs-advances-in-power-arm-and-cell-phones-7000003509/

About Linaro

Linaro is the place where engineers from the world’s leading technology companies define the future of Linux on ARM. The company is a not-for-profit engineering organization with over 120 engineers working on consolidating and optimizing open source software for the ARM architecture, including developer tools, the Linux kernel, ARM power management, and other software infrastructure. Linaro is distribution neutral: it wants to provide the best software foundations to everyone, and to reduce non-differentiating and costly low level fragmentation.

To ensure commercial quality software, Linaro’s work includes comprehensive test and validation on member hardware platforms. The full scope of Linaro’s engineering work is open to all online. To find out more, please visit http://www.linaro.org.

Linaro Enterprise Group (LEG) Founding Member Testimonials

AMD

“AMD knows from experience with AMD64 and now with the Heterogeneous Systems Architecture Foundation that an open software ecosystem is critical for enabling a disruptive play with 64-bit ARM servers,” said Leendert van Doorn, Corporate Fellow, AMD. “The Linaro Enterprise Group enables the industry to work cooperatively developing a software ecosystem for ARM servers. By joining forces we eliminate unnecessary ecosystem fragmentation and instead focus on unique innovations that truly benefit our customers.”

About AMD: AMD is a semiconductor design innovator leading the next era of vivid digital experiences with its ground-breaking AMD Accelerated Processing Units (APUs) that power a wide range of computing devices. AMD’s server computing products are focused on driving industry-leading cloud computing and virtualization environments. AMD’s superior graphics technologies are found in a variety of solutions ranging from game consoles, PCs to supercomputers. For more information, visit http://www.amd.com.

Applied Micro Circuits Corporation

“By coming together with other leading hardware and software companies involved in developing ARM server-based solutions, AppliedMicro reinforces its commitment to driving down the TCO associated with deploying next-generation cloud and enterprise infrastructures,” said Vinay Ravuri, general manager, X-Gene, AppliedMicro. “As the first company to deploy an ARM 64-bit Server on a Chip platform, we understand the importance of defining the future of ARM Server Linux and pioneering the ecosystem through our LEG membership.”

About Applied Micro Circuits Corporation: Applied Micro Circuits Corporation is a global leader in energy conscious computing solutions for public and enterprise clouds, telco, enterprise embedded applications, data center, consumer and SMB applications. With a heritage of innovation in high-speed connectivity and high-performance computing, AppliedMicro delivers silicon solutions that dramatically lower total cost of ownership for service provider and data center infrastructures. AppliedMicro’s corporate headquarters are located in Sunnyvale, California. Sales and engineering offices are located throughout the world. For further information regarding AppliedMicro, visit the company’s Web site at http://www.apm.com, Media contact: Diane Orr, +1 408-358-1617, Email Contact.

ARM

“Linaro offers a perfect example of the ARM ecosystem in action: Leading companies are partnering to meet the demand for energy efficient, high performance servers that benefit everyone from developers to businesses and consumers as the planet’s data levels soar. The inclusive and innovative ARM partnership and ARM Connected Community business models built across mobile devices are now coming to the server space. Linaro is open source and is now opening new doors for all kinds of business”, said Ian Drew ARM Executive Vice President, Marketing, ARM.

About ARM: ARM designs the technology that lies at the heart of advanced digital products, from wireless, networking and consumer entertainment solutions to imaging, automotive, security and storage devices. ARM’s comprehensive product offering includes 32-bit RISC microprocessors, graphics processors, video engines, enabling software, cell libraries, embedded memories, high-speed connectivity products, peripherals and development tools. Combined with comprehensive design services, training, support and maintenance, and the company’s broad Partner community, they provide a total system solution that offers a fast, reliable path to market for leading electronics companies. See www.arm.com for more information. Media contact: Andy Phillips, ARM PR. Email Contact ; +44 7771975925