Press Release

RidgeRun Announces DSPLinux^TM SDK Release 1.0

Appliance Simulator Greatly Reduces Embedded Linux Developers Time-To-Market

Boise, ID - May 15, 2001 - RidgeRun, Inc., today announced the availability of their DSPLinux Software Development Kit (SDK) release 1.0 for embedded Linux developers. This release, incorporating the Linux ^TM 2.4 kernel, is optimized for embedded devices and building the applications which run on those devices. RidgeRun's SDK includes the standard GNU development tools and the powerful Appliance Simulator, which allows the complete simulation of an appliance on a desktop PC running Linux. This can be used by a wide variety of Linux developers for early application development, independent of specific hardware target platforms.

The Appliance Simulator allows developers to run the DSPLinux OS within a simulation environment that models a real embedded device. Developers can create, debug, and fully simulate a host of embedded appliances, all before target hardware development systems are required. Once the hardware target has been selected, cross compile tools simplify the conversion from the simulation environment to the actual appliance.

"This 1.0 release of the DSPLinux SDK includes all of the components that serious developers of embedded Linux applications require," stated Dan George, VP of Product Development at RidgeRun. "Clearly, the basic needs are all provided - a royalty-free Open Source Linux kernel, industry standard GNU tool chain, and support for quick and easy installation. But the characteristic that really makes the DSPLinux SDK a unique environment for these developers is the depth of RidgeRun's applications supporting complete simulation of appliances such as web tablets, digital cameras, cell phones, and digital picture frames to name a few. This includes a full on-screen simulation, LCD's, device buttons, industrial designs, full networking and I/O's, and accurate memory usage modeling", George explains.

Purchasers of the DSPLinux SDK also gain access to advanced Code Compression Technology which delivers better than 2:1 compression for optimization of ROM and RAM usage. In addition, the SDK includes powerful APIs and support code for GStreamer, a leading Linux Open Source streaming media framework, as well as over a dozen Open Source packages that can be used to develop Internet-connected devices.

DSPLinux SDK release 1.0 is available for $5,000 per developer seat, which includes one year of updates and installation support. Developers wishing to purchase the SDK, or to learn more about RidgeRun's 30-day evaluation program should send e-mail to sales@ridgerun.com, or fill out the online application at www.dsplinux.net. The company plans to release its Board Support Package (BSP) for the Texas Instruments TMS320DSC21 platform in June, which will provide target software and cross-development tools for that DSP+ARM processor.

About RidgeRun, Inc.

RidgeRun is exclusively focused on bringing the reliability and flexibility of Linux to embedded Internet appliances based on DSPs (digital signal processors). RidgeRun's DSPLinux is an operating system that leverages the power of Texas Instruments' dual-core DSP architectures to deliver the performance leading platform for wireless, broadband and multimedia appliances using DSPs. These include mobile phones, digital cameras, audio and video players, automotive systems, set-top boxes, home networking gateways, and PDAs. The RidgeRun team has extensive experience in developing world-class embedded systems, fault-tolerant software and high performance Linux solutions. RidgeRun can be reached at www.ridgerun.com or by e-mail to info@ridgerun.com.