Wind River acquires RT Linux from FSMLabs

Wind River Systems has acquired technology that lets it provide an embedded Linux OS for devices that need responses in real time.

Wind River has completed the acquisition of real-time technology, called RT Linux, from FSMLabs to complement its Linux-based embedded OS, said Glenn Seiler, director of Linux platforms for Wind River. Real-time capabilities allow a device or application to respond to an external event immediately as it occurs. The company's Linux-based embedded OS, Wind River Linux, didn't have these capabilities before, he said.

Wind River acquired only RT Linux, not all of FSMLabs, Seiler said. FSMLabs will license RT Linux back from Wind River for sale in the enterprise market, so it will not compete with Wind River, he said. The companies did not disclose the terms of the deal.

FSMLabs is available as an add-on technology immediately for both Wind River Linux and the Wind River Workbench developer tools, and it will be integrated into both of those products by the end of the year.

Wind River did not have a Linux-based embedded OS until three years ago. The company's main source of revenue in its more than 20-year history has been its Wind River VxWorks real-time embedded OS for devices in various markets, such as aerospace, defense, automotive, industrial, and networking.