New Model?
Friday June 4, 8:00 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: Wind River Systems, Inc.
Wind River Systems Targets Mass Market Embedded Software Users With New Business Model
Industry Leader's Innovative Strategy for Post-PC Era Gives New Category Of Developers Easy Entry Point for Leading-Edge Embedded Software
ALAMEDA, Calif., June 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Wind River Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: WIND - news), the leader in embedded development software for the post-PC era, today announced a new business model to help drive the evolution of embedded software from a niche market to a broader, more mass market technology. Wind River has changed the licensing terms for its development tools to meet the needs of today's embedded system developer. For the first time, developers can get started with the Tornado tools for as little as US$2995 and not be restricted to a single project. Previously the tools and operating system were bundled and licensed together on a per-project basis.
''It is the most significant business model change that the embedded industry has ever seen,'' stated Jerry Fiddler, co-founder and chairman of Wind River Systems.
In the post-PC era, the computer on the desktop becomes less important than the vast numbers of computers in our daily lives. ''The key to the growth of the post-PC era is innovation,'' continued Fiddler. ''But widespread innovation requires premium-quality development tools that can be installed instantly, learned quickly, that scale to the most complex problems -- and also are available at a low-cost entry point. Wind River has always led the industry with technology advancements, and now we have found a way to make the best technology available to the widest range of developers.''
Much of Wind River's success has come from helping companies build the infrastructure of the Internet, including satellite communications systems, telco switches and Internet routers. However, with the maturing of the Internet and falling prices for powerful microprocessors, the types and numbers of firms building embedded systems has increased and their developers often do not have a background in embedded design.''
Tornado Tools For Life
The next generation of embedded software, including cellular telephones, DSL modems, and digital cameras, is being created in a fiercely competitive arena where low development costs are keys to success. To these organizations, which often include Internet start-ups and mid-sized firms diversifying into new areas, large up-front financial costs are often insurmountable barriers to exploring new technology such as embedded software.
Until now, developers have been required to license Wind River's development tools on a per project basis. Changing the product often meant having to re-license the tools. The new model allows developers to license the Tornado tools once and leverage their investment across all projects and product lines.
Wind River's long-standing commitment to the embedded developer has been focused on providing products and services to shorten the time to market for new products. ''Today's embedded market is moving so rapidly, every moment spent outside of actual development can cost thousands of dollars in lost production time. As the market moves forward, this phenomenon will become more intense,'' said Curt Schacker, vice president of marketing for Wind River.
''So rather than ask companies to take valuable development time to re-evaluate our software with every new product they develop, we have re-structured our licensing strategy,'' continued Schacker. ''The removal of the per-project restriction will allow companies to broadly proliferate the technology throughout their organizations, building a corporate asset of highly trained engineers and top tier development tools.''
Lower Entry Point, More Flexibility
Wind River has also pulled together six separate tools packages, each aimed at developers with differing levels of needs and experience. All packages include the core tools from the Tornado development platform with VxSim(TM)-lite, the integrated simulator. Experienced PC programmers or college students looking to update their skills by tinkering with Tornado without building a production system, can purchase the Tornado Prototyper which includes the Tornado core tools and the complete VxSim simulation tool.
With this innovative strategy, Wind River offers post-PC developers a lower up-front financial commitment to new, unfamiliar technology, encouraging adoption of embedded technology into mainstream applications.
''As the first embedded industry software vendor to address the needs of this emerging group of developers, we expect our customer base to grow both deeper into vertical markets and wider across smaller organizations focused on the infrastructure of and devices connected to the Internet,'' commented Schacker. ''And since Wind River has almost half of the market for commercial embedded development software, we anticipate that many of the innovative new post-PC products will be based on Wind River technology.''
Wind River Systems, Inc.
Wind River Systems, Inc. is the worldwide leader in embedded software. Wind River provides software development tools and real-time operating systems for use in products throughout the Internet, telecommunications and data communications, office automation, networking, medical, computer peripherals, automotive and aerospace/defense markets. Founded in 1983, Wind River is headquartered in Alameda, California, with operations in fifteen countries worldwide. News and information about Wind River Systems can be found on the Internet at wrs.com.
NOTE: Tornado, VxSim, and WindLink are trademarks and VxWorks, Wind River Systems, and the Wind River Systems logo are registered trademarks of Wind River Systems, Inc.
SOURCE: Wind River Systems, Inc.
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