May 29, 2001 Spider's unique implementation runs the STREAMS protocol stacks as a Linux process. The stacks then interact with applications which wish to use the STREAMS services through a specially developed inter-process communication driver. This approach requires no modifications to the Linux kernel code, and will work well with real-time extensions to the system.
Spider Software is actively involved in addressing the networking criteria for the embedded Linux market place with SpiderSTREAMS already ported to the open Linux operating system version 2.2.
"Linux undoubtedly introduces an exciting, new Operating System of choice for our customer base," said Nick Felisiak, CTO Spider Software. "The portability of SpiderSTREAMS has enabled us to provide support for commercially available Linux implementations within no time at all. We are also working closely with Spider Alliance Partners to address the High Availability and Real-Time Extensions required for many of our customer applications."
Frame Relay and X.25 will be the first protocols to be deployed by Spider in a Linux environment. The initial release will be on PC hardware and PCI interface cards but, as Linux is ported to more architectures, such as PowerPC and PowerQUICC processors, the Spider products will only require the development of a suitable hardware driver. Spider already provides PowerQUICC support for all its products running under other operating systems, so supporting this architecture with Linux will be a minor incremental step.
SpiderSTREAMS acts as an enabling technology, which provides the means for Spider's Frame Relay, ISDN, X.25, TCP and SS7 STREAMS-based protocol stacks to run in many operating system environments. Now that it has been ported to Linux, the adaptation of these protocols to run in a Linux environment has been facilitated.
Editorial Contacts:
Ruth Smith
44 131 475 7000
