News from: MontaVista
Edited by: Electronicstalk Editorial Team on 15 March 2002
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MontaVista Software has received an equity investment from Matsushita Electric Industrial (MEI) through its subsidiary, Panasonic Digital Concepts Centre (PDCC).
MontaVista Software is focused on meeting the needs of developers of the next generation of digital consumer devices.
Development of consumer products such as mobile smart phones, wireless PDAs, set-top boxes and more are characterised by the demand for smaller footprints, improved performance, lower power consumption, flexible and scalable architectures, robustness and openness.
Using proprietary solutions, these new consumer devices are not merely more complex but in fact more costly to design and develop.
MontaVista Software offers a portfolio of Linux-based solutions, which can minimise deployment cost and time to market constraints.
"As embedded applications become more network oriented, consumer electronics companies are looking to Linux as a robust and cost-effective development platform", said Charles C Wu, Managing Director, Investments, of PDCC.
"Panasonic Digital Concepts Centre recognises the tremendous traction that MontaVista has gained in the increasingly important area of embedded software solutions.
We look forward to a strategic relationship that will meld MontaVista Software's strengths with Panasonic's global leadership in consumer electronics".
MEI joins a list of high-profile investors, including IBM, Sony, US Venture Partners and others, who also invested in MontaVista Software in its third round of funding announced earlier this year.
"Consumer electronics and communications infrastructure are the two markets we believe hold the most opportunity for Linux", said Jim Ready, MontaVista CEO and embedded industry pioneer.
"Manufacturers of high-volume, competitively priced consumer electronics devices especially appreciate the non-proprietary nature of Linux, which does not lock them in to paying royalties and licensing fees".
MontaVista Linux, the company's flagship product boasts unrivalled development support for the broadest range of embedded processor architectures, supporting more than 22 CPUs, over a dozen desktop hosts, more than 60 COTS systems and reference board platforms and including in excess of 215 application packages.
This feature-rich product enables a wide variety of embedded applications, providing a standard platform for designs in communications infrastructure, networking, consumer electronics, instrumentation and control.
