Added focus to medical tech efforts will apply embedded leader’s decades of Linux, RTOS expertise from mission-critical computing in military, avionics environments
The GENIE Acquisition Operators Console, by Tactiq Ltd., with LynuxWorks’ LynxOS operating system inside, controls the GE Healthcare “MG” nuclear medicine scanner system and provides a graphical user interface for operator interaction.
GE Healthcare’s “MG” NM system is a very popular variable-geometry, dual-gamma-camera imaging system with approximately 1300 systems installed worldwide.
EMBEDDED SYSTEMS CONFERENCE, SAN JOSÉ, Calif., April 15, 2008—Building on two decades of leadership in security- and safety-critical computing, LynuxWorks™, Inc., a world leader in embedded software, today announced broad plans to expand its efforts in the medical technology market. Its new initiative will target medical-device manufacturers, and includes broadening its ecosystem to help support these devices, and working with existing customers that use LynuxWorks’ embedded real-time operating systems.
The added focus on the medical device market is a logical move for LynuxWorks. Aside from already working with medical companies, LynuxWorks’ core embedded operating system/hypervisor technology has been powering security- and safety-critical systems for the military, aerospace and avionics markets, who have similar needs for high reliability and certifiable software products.
“The demand for sophisticated medical systems, from blood analyzers to patient monitoring to robotic surgery equipment, is driving software content and growth in the medical-device market” said Steve Balacco, Director for the Embedded Software Practice at Venture Development Corporation. “Due to the safety-critical nature of medical applications, this market is heavily regulated by government bodies, and therefore requires extensive documentation in all phases of development, testing, and manufacturing. LynuxWorks has positioned their commercial software offerings and leveraged its experience in safety applications to assist medical-device manufacturers in reducing time and costs spent on regulatory compliance.”
LynuxWorks CEO and President Gurjot Singh said: “Our larger focus on the medical market is a natural extension of the open, safe, reliable and secure computing we’ve championed since the 1980s. Our ability to meet the stringent certification policies of the Federal Aviation Administration for avionics software also means that our products are well positioned to fulfill the requirements placed by the Food and Drug Administration for medical environments, as well as HIPAA privacy requirements. Device manufacturers can rest assured that there is no platform more tested than those provided by LynuxWorks.”
In today’s competitive market, hospitals are increasingly looking to technology to help improve treatment and expand treatment options, maximize doctors’ efficiency, and reduce recovery times and costs. New, innovative medical devices enabled by LynuxWorks’ operating systems, are proving their worth to both patient-care and hospitals’ bottom lines.
LynuxWorks’ products offer broad conformance to open and de facto standards including Linux®, POSIX® and UNIX®. As such, medical-device manufacturers can build their products with confidence that they will meet the most stringent industry and government requirements. LynxOS is the only embedded RTOS with hard real-time performance, which means it absolutely, positively must respond within a set period of time, a key consideration for many life-critical medical devices. Similarly, the company’s BlueCat embedded Linux, based on the 2.6 kernel, is an implementation of Linux that has been enhanced for use in embedded systems ranging from small devices to large-scale, multi-CPU systems.
For medical-device manufacturers, BlueCat Linux delivers the flexibility, productivity, performance and cost benefits of open-source software, uniquely constructed into a stable, commercial-grade embedded operating system. Other products, such as the LynxSecure separation kernel and embedded hypervisor, could facilitate the security and partitioning required in integrated medical devices, and can also help with the reuse of legacy medical applications on to new hardware platforms.
As part of a broader ecosystem to help support medical customers, LynuxWorks has partnered with American Portwell Technology, which provides both commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) and custom solutions for applications in the medical equipment industry, among others. LynuxWorks is also entering into a relationship with Mascon Global Limited who provides solutions and services to the medical industry.
“LynuxWorks and American Portwell make a great team, with complementary solutions that enable our customers to bring high-quality, safe and secure devices to market,” said Cliff Moon, VP sales and marketing, American Portwell. “Each company places the utmost importance on maintaining and improving the reliability of their products, and we look forward to working with LynuxWorks and our customers to provide a strong foundation for the medical devices of tomorrow.”
LynuxWorks already has established integral partnerships with leading hardware companies including Intel® Corp., Xilinx® and Freescale, who have solutions that meet the needs of both medical and the more traditional embedded industry.
About LynuxWorks
LynuxWorks, a world leader in the embedded software market, is committed to providing open and reliable real-time operating systems (RTOS) and software tools to embedded developers. The company’s LynxOS family of operating systems offers open standards with the highest level of safety and security features, enabling many mission-critical systems in defense, avionics and other industries. Additionally, LynuxWorks’ BlueCat Linux provides the features and support of embedded Linux for companies wanting to use open source technology for their embedded applications. The Eclipse-based Luminosity IDE gives a powerful and consistent development system across all LynuxWorks operating systems. Since it was established in 1988, LynuxWorks has created technology that has been successfully deployed in thousands of designs and millions of products made by leading communications, avionics, aerospace/defense, and consumer electronics companies. LynuxWorks’ headquarters are located in San José, CA.
LynuxWorks is a trademark and LynxOS and BlueCat are registered trademarks of LynuxWorks, Inc. Other brand or product names are registered trademarks or trademarks of the respective holders. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.