ARM, Freescale, IBM, Samsung, ST, TI form Linux venture

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- In a major move, ARM, Freescale, IBM, Samsung, ST-Ericsson and Texas Instruments have formed a non-profit company to propel Linux software technology in new and emerging markets.

The entity, Linaro, will devise open source software based on Linux for various system-on-a-chip (SoCs) devices. Linaro’s base of software and tools will be applicable to a wide range of markets, such as smart phones, tablets, digital televisions, automotive entertainment and enterprise equipment.

The venture will invest resources in open source projects that can then be used by Linux-based distributions such as Android, LiMo, MeeGo, Ubuntu and webOS.

It will provide a base for distributions and developers by creating new releases of optimized tools, kernel and middleware software validated for a wide range of SoCs, every six months.

Linaro’s first software and tools release is due out in November 2010, and will provide optimizations for the latest range of ARM Cortex-A family of processors.

“The dramatic growth of open source software development can now be seen in internet-based, always-connected mobile and consumer products,” said Tom Lantzsch, executive officer of Linaro, in a statement. “Linaro will help accelerate this trend further by increasing investment on key open source projects and providing industry alignment with the community to deliver the best Linux-based products for the benefit of the consumer.”

Lantzsch has been a senior business leader for over 25 years at both major companies and early stage startups including the CEO of StarCore in Austin, Texas.

Linaro intends to work in partnership with the Linux Foundation to align on core operating principles

Traditionally, the Linux and open-source software communities focused on solving the software problems of enterprise and computing markets with a limited choice of processor platforms. In contrast, Linaro said it ''will make it easier and quicker to develop advanced products with these high profile distributions by creating software commonality across semiconductor SoCs, from multiple companies.''