Lynx Plays key Role in Starlight Networks Affordable Networked PC Video Server LynxOS enables StarWorks to get to market first with highest performance, lowest cost per video stream

WHO ELSE USES A LynuxWorks EMBEDDED OS?

LOS GATOS, Calif.—July 29, 1994—LynxOS is playing a key role helping Starlight Networks successfully to pioneer the market for affordable video networking on PCs. LynxOS, the POSIX®-conformant, UNIX®-compatible real-time operating system from Lynx Real-Time Systems has become Starlight's operating system of choice for its StarWorks video networking software which has been shipping for more than a year.

Starlight delivers lowest cost per video stream

Delivering real-time video affordably is a key factor in acceptance of the technology; Starlight found LynxOS was the best operating system for its products because it is powerful enough to enable video to run effectively on inexpensive hardware, such as 80486-based PCs rather than needing new and more powerful hardware.

According to research organizations such as Data Quest (San José, Calif.) and the Smaby group (Minneapolis, Minn.), the current price per video servers is about $3,000 per stream, with a downward trend to about $1,500. StarWorks, which is currently being used by customers for numerous applications, costs approximately $675 per video stream, down from $1,750 just one year ago. This price is based on a 40-user version for StarWorks ($24,995) running on an 80486 EISA-bus PC ($10,000 configured with sufficient RAM and hard disk storage).

Video servers are key elements in multimedia

Video servers are key elements for such applications as networked multimedia and video-on-demand. A video server is a computer hardware/software combination with a very large storage capacity which stores movies, multimedia applications or other video and is able to provide any of its stored programs to any user on demand. It must also be capable of serving up the same video or application to multiple simultaneous users.

Industry-standard hardware, software boost performance, speed to market

In addition to the advantages inherent in the StarWorks application itself, Starlight was able to design and execute its video sever system, far ahead of the competition because StarWorks runs:

• on relatively inexpensive 80486 PCs rather than requiring expensive workstations
• or mainframes, and
• on LynxOS, from Lynx Real-Time Systems.

LynxOS is an off-the-shelf, industry-standard, UNIX/POSIX compatible real-time operating system. LynxOS is, according to Starlight, the best choice for an operating system powerful enough to enable the video server software to run effectively on inexpensive hardware such as 80486-based PCs.

Video is more demanding than ordinary data

Video is more demanding than ordinary data for two key reasons:

• The images are very large. In an uncompressed format, 10 minutes of an average color video can occupy 9 gigabytes of hard disk storage.
• Picture quality will not tolerate data transfer delays. Delays that are unnoticeable in other forms of data produced jerky video.

Interactive video moves real-time into the mainstream

Interactive video's intolerance of delays resulting in jerky images is a prime example of a "hard" real-time application where the system must respond quickly and predictably no matter what. By contrast, delays in "soft" real-time applications such as bank ATM machines cause few problems when they experience delays of a few seconds.

In the past, "hard" real-time operating systems like LynxOS were used mostly in mission critical applications such as aircraft avionics, robotics, or spacecraft. While jerky video is not a problem on the same level as the crash of an airliner or space craft, it's clear that an operating system engineered for such critical application can handle the same sort of time-critical demands of video.

LynxOS's ability to provide hard real-time performance while running existing software on standard PC hardware means that developers can bring a product to market faster and at smaller development costs because it uses standard programming languages such as C and C++. While standard UNIX and UNIX-based operating systems also offer standard development environments, UNIX (along with DOS, Windows, and NT) is an inherently "soft" real-time operating system and therefore not best suited for the demands of real-time, interactive video.

While there exists a number of "hard" real-time kernels which can offer performance comparable to LynxOS, these are proprietary--non-standard--operating systems which offer neither the programming flexibility nor the full set of features and capabilities of a full-fledged operating system like UNIX or LynxOS.

LynxOS and the Lynx logo are trademarks of Lynx Real-Time Systems, Inc. All other product names, trademarks, and registered trademarks, are the property of their respective holders.

LynuxWorks press contacts

Kirsten Long Director, Marketing Communications LynuxWorks, Inc. USA +1 408-979-4404	Barbara Stewart Patterson & Associates USA 480-488-6909
Hamid Mirab Managing Director EMEA LynuxWorks Ltd. United Kingdom +44 208-906-9506	Peter van der Sluijs Neesham Public Relations Europe +44 1442-879222