One - The Linux Kernel Archives

Linux Symposium 2004 • Volume One • 257
wide variety of platform, operating systems,
and compiler combinations; can
compile, link, and run the code on their
systems to test for portability, compatibility
and bugs.
• Vendor independent: With Linux, you no
longer have to be locked into a specific
vendor. Linux is supported on multiple
platforms.
• High innovation rate: New features are
usually implemented on Linux before they
are available on commercial or proprietary
systems.
Figure 2: Open development process of the
Linux kernel
Other contributing factors include Linux’ support
for a broad range of processors and
peripherals, commercial support availability,
high performance networking, and the proven
record of being a stable, and reliable server
platform.
4 Carrier Grade Linux
The Linux kernel is missing several features
that are needed in a telecom environment. It
is not adapted to meet telecom requirements
in various areas such as reliability, security,
and scalability. To help the advancement of
Linux in the telecom space, OSDL established
the CGL working group. The group specifies
and helps implement an Open Source platform
targeted for the communication industry that
is highly available, secure, scalable and easily
maintained. The CGL working group is composed
of several members from network equipment
providers, system integrators, platform
providers, and Linux distributors. They all
contribute to the requirement definition of Carrier
Grade Linux, help Open Source projects
to meet these requirements, and in some cases
start new Open Source projects. Many of
the CGL members companies have contributed
pieces of technologies to Open Source in order
to make the Linux Kernel a more viable option
for telecom platforms. For instance, the Open
Systems Lab [5] from Ericsson Research has
contributed three key technologies: the Transparent
IPC [6], the Asynchronous Event Mechanism
[7], and the Distributed Security Infrastructure
[8]. There are already Linux distributions,
MontaVista [9] for instance, that are
providing CGL distribution based on the CGL
requirement definition. Many companies are
also either deploying CGL, or at least evaluating
and experimenting with it.
Consequently, CGL activities are giving much
momentum for Linux in the telecom space
allowing it to be a viable option to proprietary
operating system. Member companies of
CGL are releasing code to Open Source and
are making some of their proprietary technologies
open, which leads to going forward from
closed platforms to open platforms that use
CGL Linux.
5 Target CGL applications
The CGL Working Group has identified three
main categories of application areas into which
they expect the majority of applications implemented
on CGL platforms to fall. These appli-