Embedded Linux Development Site Set to Unveil

Aiming to dramatically cut the lead time for software development in the PDA-Internet appliance arena, DevelopOnline, a company incubated and spun off by Intel Corp., is turning to the model that made Linux a household word.

On Oct. 2nd, the company will launch DevelopOnline.com, a site intended to serve as a collaborative, online development center for programmers, innovators and engineers to design or improve products over the Web. Through the site, developers will have instant access to working reference designs from multiple suppliers. A number of companies have already signed on to provide their technologies to developers through the site. They include Analog Devices, Avnet, Intel, Lineo, MontaVista, Motorola, PLX Technology and ST Microelectronics.

DevelopOnline said it would give developers needed software resources by providing instant availability to the latest device platforms, all in a native Web environment that doesn’t require lengthy downloads. The advantages for developers include:

• A Web device platform center that allows for instant evaluation, experimentation and productization
• The platforms are controllable, reconfigurable and programmable by the developer over the Web
• The collaborative project space is controlled by the developer
• The virtual development center is dynamically scalable.

“We can effectively capture an idea online, when it’s essentially no more than scribble on a blank paper napkin, and move it through each phase of development,” said Alan Steinberg, chief executive officer of DevelopOnline. “We bring innovators and the marketplace together, with the end goal of capturing first mover advantage.”

Targeted primarily at the embedded Linux community, the site offers developers open source software (multiple versions of Linux) and a database of complete open hardware platforms, including reference designs, schematics and board layouts. Manufacturers who feature their platforms on the site will pay fees to DevelopOnline but the company said they will also gain exposure within market segments and dramatically lower product development costs.