Desktop platforms Toolkit

Red Hat promotes embedded Linux

Published: 15 Oct 2004 15:35 BST

Linux vendor Red Hat on Wednesday announced a partner programme that will certify manufacturers of appliances which have been integrated with Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

This is the latest move in the company's turn-around over embedded Linux: earlier this year it announced a deal with Wind River, a vendor of embedded software, to jointly develop an embedded variant of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

In the past, the company offered a Linux distribution called Red Hat Embedded, which included a development suite for creating applications for embedded devices such as network equipment and set-top boxes.

The spokeswoman said that although it had withdrawn Red Hat Embedded some years ago it did not move away from embedded Linux entirely and continued supporting customers who had integrated it. She said that the company's current strategy is to expand its foothold in the embedded market.

James Governor, an analyst at RedMonk, said there was a big potential market for embedded Linux, but warned that it may be a difficult area for Red Hat to tackle. "Embedded is a very different market to what Red Hat normally deals with," said Governor.