Starlight Networks successfully pioneered the market for affordable video networking on PCs with its StarWorks Video Networking Software. The ability to deliver real-time video affordably was a key factor in acceptance of the technology. Starlight found that 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. (Starlight Networks was eventually acquired by PictureTel.)
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The LynxOS real-time operating system was chosen because interactive video requires a deterministic, hard real-time operating system in order to guarantee smooth image delivery. Although hard real-time operating systems like LynxOS are most known for their use in safety-critical systems such as aircraft avionics or robotics, StarWorks is a prime example of a non-safety-critical application where the system must nonetheless respond quickly and predictably.