MontaVista announced a new Android Rapid Deployment Program this past week at ESC. The press release states that MontaVista will provide “commercial quality Android software reference platforms for Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) and MIPS processors, an Automated Test and Validation Suite (ATVS), and [will] expand their existing commercialization services for Android. This new program is targeted at customers designing consumer devices ranging from Smartphones, set-top boxes, Digital TVs (DTV), IPTVs, Internet connected TVs, eReaders and eBooks, In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI) systems, and other connected devices.”
That’s all fantastic stuff—but why is it necessary, one might ask? Isn’t Android available for free? What would such a program give me?
The truth is, Android is hard. Commercializing any operating system is non-trivial, of course, and commercializing an embedded OS with specialized hardware, maybe running on a battery, maybe with a touchscreen—none of that is straightforward. Real device designers and manufacturers know this intimately. Is Android easier than other systems? Harder? Depends on the device. It’s like asking whether a car is easier to design with one dashboard or another. The dashboard may centrally impact the user’s experience, but from the designer’s point of view it is just one piece in the puzzle.
Android takes some of the guesswork out of the process by providing a large middleware stack, some applications (not necessarily open-source, mind), and a test suite for those applications, as well as doing away with royalties (go open source!). However, the middleware is only one part of the project. Without addressing the whole device, it is easy for development programs to run far over-time and over-budget. After having the Android-specific process explained to me last week and imagining going through it with actual hardware, I could easily understand why taking a device to market with Android was a 7-figure, 6-12 month project. After downloading and using the Android SDK for a while, I have experienced firsthand why such a program might be necessary.
MontaVista’s new program addresses these concerns with three components:
- Software reference platforms, starting with OMAP 3430 and 3630 and an as-yet-unannounced MIPS processor. Software reference platforms for Android are absolutely golden, as they are in any device manufacturing project. The Android download provides only an x86 emulator—a reference platform gives you working drivers and a functioning base system. It’s like starting a long trip with several hundred miles already under your belt. These platforms will also provide pre-integrated components not found in the Android stack, including digital tuner support for digital media apps like IPTV.
- Test suites, in the form of an Automated Test and Validation Suite (ATVS). The Android Compatibility Test Suite (CTS) is awesome and I love that it is part of the Android SDK. However, it tests only the application layer for compatibility. That’s great, but it is about 10% of what you need for testing an entire device. The ATVS tests *it all*, I have seen it in action and it is incredible what it reports.
- Android Commercialization Services. These are professional services (read: MontaVista engineers writing code for you) that help you bring your product to market.
Embedded development is never a straightforward activity, open-source or proprietary, Linux-based or some other OS… no matter what your components are, the major effort is engineering lots of disparate pieces together. MontaVista’s new Android Rapid Development Program adds a ton of value, shortening the 9 to 18 month development cycle by many months and bringing MontaVista’s world-renown kernel, professional services, support system infrastructure, documentation, and testing together with the Android ecosystem. That sounds like a serious win to me.
