Press Releases

Supports World’s First Advanced TCA-based Commercial Product
For Telecommunications and Data Communications

SUNNYVALE, Calif. and Tokyo, Oct. 7, 2003 — MontaVista Software, Inc., the company powering the embedded revolution, today announced that NEC (TSE: 6701) has selected MontaVista® Linux® Carrier Grade Edition as the operating system for a new NEC AdvancedTCA™ telecommunications platform for mobile operators.

Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture (ATCA) is the standard basic architecture based on the next-generation, highly advanced telecommunications specifications developed by the PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group (PICMG). The recently announced NEC platform is the world’s first working implementation of an ATCA-based commercial product.

MontaVista Linux Carrier Grade Edition (CGE) is an industry standard COTS (Commercial-Off-The-Shelf) carrier-grade Linux product that provides specific functionality for telecommunications and data communications with requirements for high availability, fault management and real-time performance.

Mr. Takatoshi Numasato, senior general manager of the Mobile Network Operation Unit at NEC said, “We selected this new platform that is based on open standards to shorten the development time and reduce total costs. Using MontaVista Linux Carrier Grade Edition, which provides a level of reliability unattainable so far with any other OS, along with high availability middleware from NEC, enabled us to build a platform that can truly support carrier-grade services. Having selected this new platform, we are convinced that we can quickly respond to the demands for low cost and high performance from the mobile phone market, which is expanding rapidly.”

NEC will demonstrate this new high performance Intel processor-based platform running MontaVista Linux Carrier Grade Edition, at the Intel booth at "ITU TELECOM WORLD 2003" (stand 4111 in Hall 4) from October 12th to 18th, 2003, in Geneva, Switzerland.

The first product based on the new NEC platform is a Packet Core Node, with SGSN (Serving GPRS Support Node) and GGSN (Gateway GPRS Support Node), which can handle large-volume IP-packet transmission applications such as video streaming and GPS (Global Positioning System) in 3rd generation (3G) services.

“With the rapid evolution of the mobile Internet, supporting software needs to be more robust with rich functionality and networking capabilities,” said Glenn Seiler, director of Product Marketing, MontaVista Software. “MontaVista Linux Carrier Grade Edition provides a powerful systems software platform that helps to bring these advanced products and services to market quickly and at reduced costs.”

"The pairing of standards-based Intel building blocks with the MontaVista Software development platform is an excellent example of off-the-shelf modular platforms gaining momentum in the communications industry," said Anthony Ambrose, general manager, Intel Communications Infrastructure Group. "Equipment manufacturers like NEC are taking advantage of efficiency improvements in everything from inventory management to product deployment cycle times made available through standards-based modular communication platforms."

About MontaVista Linux Carrier Grade Edition
MontaVista Linux Carrier Grade Edition provides a robust software platform to meet the demands of carriers and service providers. CGE is the first product to be fully compliant with the industry specification for Carrier Grade Linux released last year by the Open Source Development Labs – the OSDL Carrier Grade Linux Specification 1.1. The specification includes standards such as the Linux Standards Base (LSB), IPv6 (including IPSECv6 and MIPv6), SNMP support, and POSIX interfaces for timers, signals, message queues, semaphores, event logging and threads. CGE also incorporates standard interfaces to provide greater flexibility and portability, and supports multiple hardware solutions based on CompactPCI, AdvancedTCA and volume-based rackmount servers. CGE also includes technologies that are only available from MontaVista, such as online debugging and patching of deployed applications.

Availability
CGE is available today from MontaVista Software and the company’s sales and distribution channels worldwide. It is offered as a product subscription, providing customers with the MontaVista Linux kernel, all software updates, deployment components, utilities, development tools, access to the MontaVista Zone (customer resource portal), comprehensive technical support and hands-on Linux training classes.

The details of the new NEC SGSN and GGSN platform can be obtained in the NEC press release issued on September 10th, at http://www.nec.co.jp/press/en/0309/1001.html

About MontaVista Software
MontaVista Software is a leading global supplier of systems software for intelligent connected devices and associated infrastructure. MontaVista powers the embedded revolution by providing GNU/Linux-based open-source software solutions. Founded in 1999 by real-time operating system (RTOS) pioneer James Ready, MontaVista offers a family of products under the MontaVista Linux umbrella that address broad-based software developer needs encompassing applications ranging from communications infrastructure to consumer electronics. Multiple editions of MontaVista Linux are available including Professional, Consumer Electronics and Carrier Grade, along with complementary technology products providing powerful Java and graphics development capabilities.

Headquartered in the heart of Silicon Valley, in Sunnyvale, Calif., MontaVista Software is a privately held company funded by leading investors such as Alloy Ventures, US Venture Partners, RRE Ventures, WR Hambrecht + Co., IBM, Intel Capital, Sony, Panasonic (Matsushita), Toshiba America and Yamaha Corporation. For more information about MontaVista Software, please visit http://www.mvista.com.

About NEC
NEC is one of the world’s leading providers of Internet, broadband network and enterprise business solutions dedicated to meeting the specialized needs of its diverse and global base of customers. Ranked as one of the world’s top patent-producing companies, NEC delivers tailored solutions in the key fields of computer networking and electronic devices, by integrating its technical strengths in IT and Networks, and by providing advanced semiconductor solutions through NEC Electronics Corporation. The NEC Group employs more than 140,000 people worldwide and had net sales of approximately $40 billion for the fiscal year ended March 2003. For additional information, please visit the NEC home page at http://www.nec.com.

Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. MontaVista is a registered trademark of MontaVista Software Inc. All other names mentioned are trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.

Contacts:

MontaVista Software
Joe Samagond
Director of Marketing and Corporate Communications
MontaVista Software
Phone (408) 328-9234
E-mail: jsamagond@mvista.com

Patricia Colby
PR Strategy and Business Development
Pacifico, Inc.
Phone: (408) 293 8600 x340
E-mail: pcolby@pacifico.com