SUSE Linux Gets Real-Time Extensions

Published: January 31, 2006

by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Commercial Linux distributor Novell last week announced that it has partnered with Concurrent Computer, a 40-year-old expert in providing real-time operating systems to create a variant of the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server operating system that has real-time extensions.

Real-time operating systems, which are used in embedded controllers to make sure all kinds of processes like the running of a nuclear power reactor, a factory making soup, or a flight control system is capable of taking in a continuous stream of telemetry and translate that into action.

The combined product, which will be sold by both Novell and Concurrent Computer, will have the unwieldy name of Concurrent Real-Time Extensions Powered by SUSE Linux. (What was wrong with Concurrent SUSE? Or Real-Time SUSE?) The companies are aiming the product at brokerage houses and stock trading floors that operate in a real-time mode; applications in government (mainly the military) and the telecommunications industry, which also have real-time needs, are also going to be targets for the platform. In fact, any time of media streaming also requires such technology. Novell also said that it intends to sell Concurrent Computer's NightStar development tools, which is used to debug real-time applications running on distributed systems.