MontaVista Software, Inc announced two new Linux support packages (LSPs) that make MontaVista Linux Professional Edition 5.0 available for the new AMCC PowerPC 405EX and 405EXr processors. In addition to bringing commercial-grade Linux to the AMCC processors, the new MontaVista LSPs will enable device designers and embedded application developers to use the MontaVista DevRocket integrated development environment (IDE) to develop products for the new processors.

AMCC PowerPC 405EX and 405EXr embedded processors are optimized for the requirements of 802.11n (Wi-Fi) and WiMAX-based wireless access points. The new processors deliver the demonstrated performance of the PowerPC 405 family with its recognized low power characteristics, together with a suite of high performance peripheral and memory interfaces, an advanced security engine, and support for a broad range of security protocols.

“Many of our customers plan to use MontaVista’s commercial-grade Linux for our PowerPC 405EX and 405EXr platforms, so we are pleased that MontaVista will provide this support,” said Charlie Ashton, director of software for AMCC. “We expect that the combination of AMCC’s new Power ArchitectureTM processors with MontaVista Linux will provide reliability and real-time performance for new device designs and embedded apps, and that the DevRocket IDE can help developers deliver quality products to market quickly. These MontaVista products provide further evidence of AMCC’s commitment to ensuring that our customers have access to the operating systems that they prefer.”

Design teams and developers who build products with PowerPC 405EX and 405EXr processors will be able to give their products the proven reliability, real-time application performance, and rich functionality provided by MontaVista Linux. Unlike freely-available source code, all MontaVista components have been integrated with each other, have been hardened by MontaVista’s testing facilities, and are backed by MontaVista’s experienced support team.

“Hundreds of device designers and embedded application developers have been successful in building products with MontaVista Linux on the AMCC PowerPC 405 family, and we expect the new PowerPC 405EX and 405EXr processors to extend that success,” said Joerg Bertholdt, MontaVista Software’s director of marketing, embedded platforms. “MontaVista has a long tradition of being the first to offer new technologies, so we are proud to be the first to give developers commercial-grade real-time Linux for these innovative AMCC Power Architecture processors.”

MontaVista Linux Professional Edition 5.0 LSPs for AMCC PowerPC 405EX and 405EXr will be available for developers and design teams early in 2008.