Wasabi Systems Announces Plans for Certified NetBSD Support for IBM PowerPC 970FX
Wasabi to Support IBM OEM customers with GPL-free open source OS
NORFOLK, VIRGINIA – March 31, 2004 – Wasabi Systems Inc., the leading provider of embedded development tools and services for NetBSD, today announced that it will provide Wasabi Certified™ NetBSD support for the IBM PowerPC 970FX microprocessor. The combination of the PowerPC 970FX microprocessor, with speeds up to 2 GHz, and the Wasabi Certified NetBSD operating system is intended to provide embedded customers with a comprehensive, hardware-software solution for building 64-bit sub-system devices.
The PowerPC 970FX is based on IBM’s award-winning POWER4 processor core. With full symmetric multiprocessing support, a network of two or more similar processors connected via a high-bandwidth link and controlled by the same OS have equal access to I/O devices. Further enhancements include a vector-processing unit that executes more than 160 specialized instructions and employs a system interface capable of up to 6.4 GBs.
Wasabi Certified NetBSD is the only commercially available, GPL-free Unix-like operating system with professional certification and support. With its industry-leading networking functionality and unparalleled platform support, Wasabi Certified NetBSD is a superior option for advanced network appliances, storage devices and embedded systems. Additionally, there are no legal requirements of the GPL.
“Wasabi Certified NetBSD is designed to bring together the world’s most powerful and portable open source operating system with the security of corporate certification and support,” said Frank G. Logan, III, President and CEO of Wasabi. “We are looking forward to working with IBM and bringing this operating system technology to the PowerPC 970FX microprocessors.”
“This announcement offers our customers a certified open source solution for developing mission-critical embedded systems," said Ray Bryant, director of PowerPC products, IBM Systems & Technology Group.” With Wasabi Certified NetBSD on the IBM PowerPC 970FX embedded boards, engineers will be able to experience the benefits of open source UNIX and the POWER architecture."
About Wasabi Certified NetBSD
Wasabi Certified NetBSD is the only commercially available, GPL-free Unix-like operating system with professional certification and support. All Wasabi Certified NetBSD packages are thoroughly tested, certified, and documented at Wasabi’s performance and testing facility. Wasabi’s standard test procedure includes building the source code in accordance with the same instructions provided to users, installation of the binary image on the reference platform, exhaustive testing of all of the functions provided by the reference platform/software package according to generally accepted benchmarks and methodology, and verification of BSP documentation.
About Wasabi Systems
Wasabi Systems, Inc. provides software components and operating systems support for developers of network device and server applications. Based on the Wasabi Certified NetBSD operating system, Wasabi's Storage Builder offers a complete turnkey solution for building native iSCSI target appliances with off-the-shelf components. Founded in January 2000, Wasabi's investors include Himalaya Capital, Hudson Ventures, Intel Capital, and Newlight Associates. To learn more about Wasabi Systems, visit http://www.wasabisystems.com, call 757.248.9601, or contact the Company's headquarters at 500 E. Main Street, Suite 1520, Norfolk, Virginia 23510.
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