24 February 2009, 10:11

MIPS joins the Linux Foundation

MIPS Technologies Inc, designers of embedded processor cores, found in many network switches, routers and appliances, has joined the Linux Foundation. Udi Kalekin, vice president of software engineering at MIPS said “A large majority of MIPS developers are using Linux for product development. We envision an evolution in consumer platform support on multi-core systems powered by Linux, and our work with the Linux Foundation will accelerate this process.”

MIPS has been in the processor market since the eighties, competing with other processor makers in the early days of RISC processors for desktops and workstations. MIPS was acquired by SGI in 1992. When SGI decided to use Intel's Itanium chips in its products, MIPS moved to developing and licensing the MIPS architecture and core designs for the embedded market, where its low power consumption and temperature made it ideal. By 2000, MIPS had been completely spun off from SGI, as MIPS Technology Inc. MIPS designed cores are now found within many chip sets. Recently, MIPS based netbooks have also started to appear, running various Linux variants at the low end of the netbook market.

(djwm)

« previous | next »

Print Version | Send by email | Permalink: http://h-online.com/-740227