To: Anthony Ettipio who wrote (7751 ) 5/9/2000 8:48:00 AM From: Michael Gaudet Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 10309
LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 9, 2000-- Demonstrations of New Tornado for Managed Switches Partners, Devices; Creation of Embedded Technologies Zone Wind River Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:WIND), a leading provider of software and services for smart devices in the Internet age, today demonstrated at the Networld+Interop tradeshow the strength of its recently shipped Tornado(R) for Managed Switches (TMS) product and Wind River's key role in creating networking-specific embedded software. Semiconductor partners, including Intel, Allayer, MMC Networks, and Music Semiconductor, are demonstrating their new TMS-compatible technologies at Networld+Interop (see attached quote addendum). Several partners took advantage of Wind River's professional services to develop hardware/software reference designs. In addition, devices built on TMS will also be demonstrated at Wind River's booth (No. 6563) at Networld+Interop. Wind River assisted Ziff Davis, Networld+Interop's show management, with the creation of the Embedded Networking Technologies (ENT) Zone, the latest addition to the Networld+Interop exhibit floor. The ENT Zone is another example of how important embedded technology has become in networking as well as the central role Wind River plays in this arena. Beyond Wind River's booth in the ENT Zone featuring Wind River's networks and professional services capabilities, the company will host a WindLink(R) Partner Pavilion where compatible partner technologies will be demonstrated. "Embedded development is very complex and adding in the unique needs of the networking industry makes it even more difficult," said David Fraser, vice president and general manager of Wind River's Networks business unit. "That is why we work so closely with networking-oriented semiconductor partners and invested so much time and effort into creating a standard platform for network equipment vendors. And, with additional compatible components from 200 networking-specific partners and a professional services capability that has proven networking expertise, Wind River is the clear leader in networking-specific embedded software. Our significant presence at Networld+Interop shows both our commitment to this space as well as our unrivaled ability to execute." Reducing Complexity, Enabling Innovation Announced in January with support from several semiconductor vendors and customers, TMS helps networking equipment manufacturers build enterprise, small office/home office (SOHO) and some service provider class network devices. Tornado for Managed Switches is an integrated software platform for delivering Layer 2 and 3 switches, routers and network device solutions. It is comprised of the standard Tornado development environment, VxWorks(R) real time operating system (RTOS) and source code for the supplied networking and management components. Using TMS in network equipment design drastically reduces development burden, allowing developers to improve time-to-market and reduce costs. Manufacturers of network processors are also combining their microprocessors with the TMS software platform to provide an "off-the-shelf" solution to equipment vendors. "Networking chipsets without software address only a portion of the equation," added Fraser. "By teaming with Wind River, semiconductor vendors leverage the industry's only fully integrated switching software solution. Networking equipment manufacturers can now dramatically reduce both their development resource requirements and the time-to-market associated with providing high-performance switching solutions by purchasing off-the-shelf integrated hardware and software solutions." In addition, manufacturers can use TMS as a platform for creating any switch or router based network device, freeing developers from having to create and maintain standard components. This flexibility improves time-to-market, empowers the developer and offers a way to really differentiate its products. A standard platform also allows network equipment vendors to invest development time on developing new, additional components rather than integrating discreet basic technology.