Mentor Graphics is key Freescale commercial Linux strategic partner for QorIQ and PowerQUICC processors

WILSONVILLE, USA: Mentor Graphics Corp. has signed a multi-year strategic partnership agreement with Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. naming Mentor Graphics as a key Freescale strategic commercial Linux partner.

Under the agreement, the Mentor Graphics Embedded Software Division will provide commercial, Linux-based software products supporting the Freescale QorIQ and PowerQUICC processors for the networking, telecommunications, military/aerospace, industrial, printing and imaging application markets.

The Mentor solutions will offer broad portfolio coverage and be available at, or near, first silicon. Mentor and Freescale will also closely collaborate on product, technology and go-to-market activities.

“We chose Mentor Graphics as a key strategic Linux partner based on their exceptional embedded Linux technology and ongoing investments and commitment to innovate in creating highly-competitive commercial solutions in the open source arena,” said Raja Tabet, Vice President of Software and Systems for Freescale's Networking and Multimedia Group. “We are confident that our deep collaboration with Mentor will result in an exceptional design experience for our joint customers.”

Freescale’s partnership with Mentor Graphics is ground breaking in terms of engineering collaboration and methodology, as Freescale expects to standardize on Mentor Graphics technology for managing open source software as the foundation for Freescale’s internal Linux development efforts. This approach is expected to create a seamless transition from no-cost Linux evaluation versions to commercial editions.

The partnership with Mentor will allow Freescale customers to use the same base code throughout the design process with seamless software and tool integration, helping to minimize product performance risks. Building on 25 years of experience, Mentor Graphics provides embedded software IP, tools, and services for Linux and the Nucleus RTOS for multi-OS on multicore development, optimized for Power Architecture processors.

“We are excited to partner with Freescale, one of the most established and diverse makers of embedded devices in the world, serving today’s best known companies. We believe that our joint collaboration will provide our mutual customers with the ideal embedded development environment and opportunities to expand into new Linux-based markets,” said Glenn Perry, General Manager, Mentor Graphics Embedded Software Division.

“Our experience in Freescale technologies and expertise in open source software—based on acquired technology and resources from Embedded Alley—places us in an ideal position to serve as a strategic Freescale Linux partner.”

The Mentor Graphics Embedded Software Division comprises the Mentor Embedded family of products and services, including embedded software intellectual property (IP), tools, and consulting services to help embedded developers and silicon partners optimize their products for design and cost efficiency.