Freescale, China establish Linux evaluation lab
By Jeff Berman, News Editor -- EDN, February 28, 2005
Freescale Semiconductor and the China Software and Integrated Circuit Promotion Center (CSIP), a division of the China Ministry of Information Industry (MII), said today they are banding together to launch a Beijing laboratory that will develop evaluation systems for Linux products.
The lab's mission will be to support the use of Linux in China by developing complete evaluation systems, running on Freescale PowerPC processors, which are geared toward improving the stability and compatibility of Linux products for China's industry, said Freescale officials.
"The MII develops policies around communications industries in China, such as television, radio and satellite, and helps set policies, rules and regulations for the country to follow," said Glenn Beck, Freescale's director of marketing for high-performance PowerPC processors."
According to Beck, the CSIP's objective is to evaluate and develop standards and technologies that support MII policy. Freescale will outfit the lab with PowerPC workstations, support for the Linux OS, and development tools to help engineers develop Linux applications, benchmarks, and products.
Within the next 60 days, Beck said, the company will hold training sessions with OEMs and universities focusing on the PowerPC architecture, Linux, and developing reference designs and benchmarks that are unique to the Chinese marketplace.
"There have been great achievements in the development of Linux systems products in China ," said Qiu Shan Qin, chief of CSIP, in a statement. "However, there is a lack of standards and processes for the evaluation of stability and compatibility. This collaboration between CSIP and Freescale is intended to provide complete evaluation systems for Linux products to enhance stability and compatibility, and as a result, to establish evaluation benchmarks of standard Linux products. At CSIP, our missions are to promote development of China 's IT industry and to provide services for IT enterprises."
