PISCATAWAY, N.J. – February 9, 2011 – Power.org, the open collaborative organization that enables, develops and promotes Power Architecture® technology, announces the first Android operating system (OS) port available as open source code for the embedded community. A collaborative effort between IBM, Mentor Graphics, XGI (now part of SIS) and AppliedMicro, the code is available for download at code.google.com/p/ppcdroid and gitorious.org/ppcdroid. This announcement, together with Freescale Semiconductor’s introduction of its platform to aid deployment of the Android™ OS on its Power Architecture technology-based products, underscores the growing use of the Android OS within the Power Architecture community.
“Android continues to gain traction as a key operating system for digital media and networking appliances, making it an important OS for the embedded market as seen with the Mentor Graphics port for Freescale and this most recent port for IBM, which brings the OS to our community as open source code,” said Kaveh Massoudian, CTO, Power.org Strategic Alliance at IBM. “This collaborative effort exemplifies the Power.org™ community’s commitment to ensuring that the widest breadth of support for the world’s most advanced technologies is available through its ecosystem.”
Mentor Graphics completed the Android OS port for IBM using the IBM 460S core, which is designed to address the performance and power demands of today’s communications, consumer electronics and storage embedded applications. In addition, the set-up included an AppliedMicro Canyonlands board and a Z11 graphics card from XGI.
Originally introduced for mobile handsets by Google, Android’s multitasking, thread support, and other advanced OS features have proven to have significant potential in the embedded marketplace, from digital routers, cable modems, industrial equipment and switches to television, notebooks, multifunction printers, touch screen interfaces for system controls, and networking appliances. Android provides ready-made application frameworks that enable developers to quickly build an application with the desired features and interface. For example, Android could manage a high-end printer equipped with a touch screen, not only the printer engine and network interface, but also the screen’s display and any interactions for changing print or network settings.
“The rich feature set of the Android OS, together with the performance and integration of Freescale and IBM processors based on Power Architecture, can help systems designers meet demanding embedded requirements and create innovative products for networking, printing and imaging, industrial, storage and media equipment markets,” said Preet Virk, Power.org Board Member and Director of Networking Segment Marketing for Freescale Semiconductor.
Freescale offers a development solution designed to streamline deployment of the Android OS on its QorIQTM P1022 processor. Established to foster compelling new features and products for a wide range of markets, the solution incorporates Mentor Graphics’ optimized implementation of the Android OS for Power Architecture technology.
Power.org will showcase this Power Architecture platform supporting the Android OS at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, February 14 -17, 2011. Please come visit the Power.org™ booth #2J56 at Mobile World Congress.
About Power.org
Since 2005 when Power.org was founded, the organization has leveraged its members’ expertise and commitment to deliver new standards, programs and increased business value to the design engineering community, while growing as an organization. The Power.org ecosystem is an open community comprised of companies that design, develop, build and support wide breadth of Power Architecture expertise and solutions including microprocessors, design tools, hardware vendors, software, OEM and foundries.
Collaborative innovation is the hallmark of the Power.org community. Power Architecture technology offers the broadest market and application coverage of any instruction set architecture available. The technology is behind millions of innovative products, including the world’s fastest supercomputers, leading video game consoles, and electronic systems in most of today’s car models. Every phone call, email and Web page touches hundreds of Power Architecture systems. For information, visit www.power.org.
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