~~~
BSDI's BEST Program Targets Embedded Systems Designers
Colorado Springs, CO (April 14, 1997) - Berkeley Software Design, Inc.
(BSDI) announced
today that the company will deliver an embedded systems software platform
for network appliances
based on BSD/OS for Intel x86/Pentium, Sun SPARC, and Motorola PowerPC
processor
architectures.
The new BSDI Embedded Systems Technology (BEST) Program targets OEMs and
developers who
require a high-performance, TCP/IP-enabled software environment for
network appliances, such as
printers and telephony servers, high-bandwidth enterprise and public
network switches and
transmission equipment, intelligent Internet/intranet application servers,
kiosks and other unattended
servers, and advanced business support systems. BSDI's BSD/OS offers a
variety of advantages as
an embedded computing platform including its compact footprint, flexible
configuration,
high-performance TCP/IP networking, extremely responsive kernel that meets
a wide range of soft
real-time requirements, and BSDI's renowned technical support.
"Our strategic partners, such as Airtouch, Ascend, Compaq, Hitachi, Sun
Microelectronics, U.S.
Robotics, UUNET Technologies, and the leading firewall providers,
understand the advantages of
using BSDI's BSD/OS for embedded computing applications," said Gary J.
Johnson, Executive Vice
President of Sales and Marketing for BSDI. "In response to our customers'
requirements for a
high-peformance, modular, well-supported embedded operating environment
that runs on standard
microprocessor architectures, we've designed our new BEST Program to make
it as easy as possible
for embedded systems designers to build BSD/OS-based network appliances
and other advanced
devices."
The BEST Program incorporates an Appliance Developer's Kit (ADK) that
includes BSD/OS,
complete source code, and a versatile development environment, as well as
a broad set of network
applications and utilities for client and server implementations. The BEST
Program also includes
expert technical support, a client-server binary licensing program, and
services tailored to meet the
needs of the embedded systems developer.
"Our new BEST Program is designed especially for designers of a new
generation of information
appliances and other networked systems," said Rob Kolstad, Ph.D.,
President of BSDI. "BSD/OS
offers a compact, high-performance kernel, bulletproof TCP/IP networking,
advanced utilities and
applications, and affordable source code. Our BEST Program is ideal for
embedded systems
environments that require top performance, exceptional reliability, rapid
application development, and
low-cost deployment."
Through the BEST Program, embedded systems designers can augment their
BSD/OS-based
products with third-party applications from Netscape, Software.com, and
others. BEST developers
also gain access to BSDI implementations of over 400 utilities, including
a DNS server, Apache Web
server, SMTP and POP-3 E-mail servers, FTP server, NNTP server, Telnet
server, DHCP and
BOOTP servers, NFS servers, print and Fax servers, and many others.
"Leaders in the internetworking industry are extremely interested in the
opportunity to incorporate
BSD/OS in new Internet/Intranet devices, such as firewalls and routers,
hubs and switches, network
printers, and telephony and multimedia servers," said Randall Brem, BSDI's
Vice President of
Embedded Technology Sales. "Bringing BSD/OS to Intel, SPARC, and PowerPC
architectures opens
the door for embedded systems designers to develop and deploy a wide range
of BSDI-powered
solutions."
"BSDI's BSD/OS is the high-performance embedded operating system at the
heart of the Ascend's
high-performance GRF IP switching architecture," said Mark Garver, Vice
President of the High
Performance Networking Division at Ascend. "BSDI's field proven
implementations of the standard
Internet routing protocols enable us to achieve fast time to market and
meet our demanding
performance requirements. BSDI offers a compact, highly efficient kernel
with a bulletproof,
standards-based IP implementation as well as full source code and
top-level support."
"Leading ISPs, such as ANS, are taking advantage of migrating
applications, such as RADIUS
authentication, to the U.S. Robotics EdgeServer with BSDI Internet Server
software," said Ross
Manire, Senior Vice President of U.S. Robotics' Network Systems Division.
"With the
BSDI-powered EdgeServer, ISPs of every size can now migrate applications
to POPs located at the
edge of their networks to deliver higher performance services to their end
users."
"We selected BSD/OS as the operating system of choice because of its
proven speed, flexibility, and
stability," said James Chen, President and CEO of V-ONE, one of the
numerous firewall providers
whose products are based on BSDI's BSD/OS. "Our customers require the
highest level of security
and reliability, and we feel very confident that the BSDI-powered V-ONE
platform provides the
top-level solution."
BEST Technical Overview
The BEST Appliance Developer's Kit (ADK) includes a developer's license
and source code for the
BSD/OS kernel, networking stack, link layer, file systems, and a complete
development environment.
BSD/OS is a fast, scalable, multitasking, 32-bit client/server network
platform with a small footprint,
virtual memory, and memory protection, with support for configurations
ranging from 2 to 512
megabytes of RAM and up to 3.75 gigabytes of user virtual memory per process.
BSD/OS incorporates an enhanced TCP/IP stack that offers high-performance
networking proven in
over 55,000 communications servers, routers, firewalls, and other network
devices worldwide.
BSD/OS link layer will include support for PPP, Cisco HDLC, Ethernet
(10/100 Mbps), FDDI,
Frame Relay, ISDN, and X.25. BSD/OS file systems include a very fast,
local 64-bit file system,
NFS, ISO 9660 CD-ROM, virtual memory file system, RAM disk, and support
for union mounts to
stack file systems.
BEST ADK tools include C and C++ development systems, compilers, libraries
(including pthreads),
linkers, symbolic debugger with support for remote target debugging, call
tracer, profiler, version
control system, Perl4 and Perl5, tcl environment, POSIX.2 shells and
scripting tools. The BEST
ADK also includes over 400 utilities with source code. These utilities as
well as a set of layered
applications from independent commercial software developers are available
for binary licensing
separately from the BEST core modules.
BEST Developer Support includes named account management, phone, E-mail,
and FTP response
mechanisms, prompt call backs, immediate escalation to the BEST
engineering team, and proactive
maintenance. BSDI also offers customer services, such as kernel and stack
modification and device
driver development.
Licensing Information
BEST licensing enables low-cost development and flexible deployment
licensing based on the
required BEST modules, deployment volume, and whether the deployment is
client or server based.
The BEST Program offers embedded systems designers affordable access to
source code and
high-level support for a fraction of the cost associated with obtaining
the source code for other
commercial operating systems. The BEST version of BSD/OS for the Intel
x86/Pentium procesor
architecture is slated for availability in 2Q97, and for the SPARC
processor architectures in 2H97.
About Berkeley Software Design, Inc.
Berkeley Software Design, Inc. is the commercial supplier of the
high-performance BSD Internet and
networking system software originally developed at the University of
California, Berkeley. Internet
experts worldwide are powering the networked economy with over 55,000
deployed servers running
BSDI software engines and applications. BSDI products include BSDI
Internet Server, BSDI
GroupGate, and BSD/OS and networking software for network appliance
developers. BSDI serves
many of the foremost Internet service providers worldwide including ANS,
AT&T, BBN, EUNET,
CompuServe, Demon Internet, IDT, Internet Direct, Internet Initiative
Japan (IIJ), MCI, Mindspring,
Sprint, Telia AB, U.S. WEST, UUNET Technologies, and more than 2,500
local, regional, and
national Internet service providers worldwide. BSDI is privately held and
headquartered in Colorado
Springs, Colorado. Contact BSDI at 800-800-4273, 719-593-9445,
info@bsdi.com, or
http://www.bsdi.com.
-
Running around robbing banks all wacked off of scooby snacks...
<> tbyars@earthlink.net <>
888-257-4272/message
310-934-5104/pager