Mandriva and Turbolinux to join Moblin Project through their joint Manbo Labs to expand the business in the field of Atom-based products along with Intel
October 20th 2008, Paris, Tokyo and Santa Clara - Today Mandriva and Turbolinux announced an agreement creating Manbo Labs, which will join the Moblin.org project to contribute their technologies.
Moblin.org is an open source community project to develop the Linux software stack and technology framework for visually rich Internet, media experience on devices such as Intel® Atom™ Processor based Mobile Internet Devices, netbooks and In-Vehicle Infotainment Systems.
Manbo labs is a lab set up in the context of a partnership between Mandriva and Turbolinux. Together, these two Linux editors have a strong presence in Europe and Asia. They have decided to syndicate their development work to be able to invest more in technology. So they have set up a lab, staffed by Mandriva and Turbolinux engineers, which develops the core components of a Linux distro. Once the core components are ready, both companies develop their own products, based on these core components.
Manbo Labs was launched in the Fall of 2007, its first product was delivered in March of 2008, and since then Mandriva and Turbolinux have both brought to the market products based on this core: Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring for Mandriva and Turbolinux Client 2008 for Turbolinux.
Turbolinux and Mandriva have plans to grow their joint labs several ways:
* by adding new members who will contribute and base their products on Manbo technology, a new member should be announced soon;
* by growing the scope of the core components;
* by including more products in the scope of the lab.
Mandriva and Turbolinux will develop the core components of a Linux distribution based on Moblin.org. They both already have unique technology and strong expertise in developing netbook-oriented Linux distributions that will contribute to Moblin.org. The new Manbo Lab distribution for netbooks will be Moblin compliant and thus will be optimized for the Intel Atom processor platforms. It will have among others the following features:
* Power management enabling long battery life;
* Fast boot time;
* Small footprint;
* Slick GUI interface adapted to small screen.
Mandriva and Turbolinux expect to ship the product by the end of Q4 2008 or the beginning of Q1 2009. And also due to Moblin technology can lower the risk and accelerates time-to-market for OSVs and ISVs which can also bring a great value to some other Atom processor based products, not only limited on netbooks. For example, in the meanwhile, Manbo Lab is also exploring some other fields like In-Vehicle Infotainment Systems based on the openness, powerful possibility and capability Moblin project is bringing.
“The truly open nature of Moblin makes innovation widely accessible.”said Ram Peddibhotla, director of Intel Open Source Technology Center, System Software Division. “Building upon our relationship with Manbo Labs, we expect to see the Moblin based Manbo solution delivering a solid Internet and media experience on Intel® Atom™ Processor-based netbooks.”
"We are more than excited to start this project in Manbo Lab because portable devices based on the Intel Atom processor will be definitely the key of the next IT business and we strongly believe our output will speed up the new IT life for the consumer all over the world”, said Koichi Yano, the CEO of Turbolinux.
“We are delighted to be working with Turbolinux in the Moblin community. The product and technology, we are working on, which will include some of the unique technology developed by Manbo Labs, will deliver increased value to our OEM/ODM customers”, said François Bancilhon, CEO of Mandriva.
About Mandriva
Mandriva, formerly known as Mandrakesoft, is the publisher of Mandriva Linux, an easy-to-use and innovative operating system. It is one of the most popular Linux editions in the world. Dedicated to making open source technologies accessible to all users, the company offers a full range of products and services to individuals, enterprises and government organizations.
Mandriva products are available online in 80 languages and in more than 140 countries through dedicated channels. Headquartered in Paris, France, the company is publicly traded on the Euronext Marché Libre.
