NXP and Canonical to demo Ubuntu Core on the LS1043A at Embedded World

• The LS1043A, NXP’s quad-core ARM 64bit-powered SoC, is built for embedded networking and IoT Gateways with high throughput needs.
• Ubuntu Core is a versatile operating system for IoT and networking equipment based on snaps, the cross-platform Linux package format.
• Device manufacturers can use snaps and branded stores to quickly go from development to production and build profitable devices with incremental revenue opportunities.

Embedded World 2017, Nuremberg, Germany – March 14, 2017: NXP and Canonical have collaborated to port Ubuntu Core to the LS1043A, a quad-core SoC targeted at IoT gateways and networking equipment. With this combination, device manufacturers gain a platform with which to build high throughput IoT Gateways.

Ubuntu Core has been used in a variety of devices from IoT Gateways to network equipment. IoT Gateways benefit from the wide support of IoT protocol available on Ubuntu, but more importantly it lets developers fully utilize the edge compute capabilities offered by the LS1043A to run advanced analytics and artificial intelligence models. Embedded networking products can run standard Linux applications such as Quagga or Sonic. Ubuntu Core therefore makes full use of the LS1043A network and IO features, such as packet acceleration, to simultaneously support high bandwidth traffic to smart devices over 802.11ac, and also support IoT data collection through Bluetooth LE, Thread, Zigbee®, or other low power wireless standards.

The Ubuntu Core image demonstrated by NXP and Canonical allows device manufacturers to use snaps, the cross-platform Linux packaging format, to build their applications. Snaps offer a number of features for device manufacturers along the software management lifecycle, from development to deployment and from security to business models. Snaps allow developers to quickly create, package, test and distribute self-contained applications based on the thousands of existing Ubuntu and Linux libraries. This means that device manufacturers can drastically cut their development time. Snaps can also help them with monetization as they can be deployed in a branded store. A branded store allows a device manufacturer to distribute their snaps as well as selected third party snaps on their devices substituting the “pay once” hardware business model by an App business model.

“We are pleased to be working with Canonical to demonstrate the full IoT capabilities of Ubuntu Core on the NXP LS1043A,” commented Richard House, Vice president software development, Digital Networking at NXP. “Ubuntu Core will provide our customers with a great tool to go from development to production on the scalable Layerscape family of SoCs.”

The LS1043A is part of the QorIQ® Layerscape family which offers additional security via Trust Architecture which provides the basis of a trusted execution environment for applications. This complements the security features associated with snaps such as read-only images, authentication of the application origin, confinement, isolation and transactional updates. As the Ubuntu Core image is built from the ground up using snaps, the entire device stack can benefit from tools to continuously update the stack and roll-back in case of update failure, thus ensuring the security and integrity of the devices.

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About Canonical

Canonical is the company behind Ubuntu, the leading OS for cloud operations. Most public cloud workloads use Ubuntu, as do most new smart gateways, switches, self-driving cars and advanced robots. Canonical provides enterprise support and services for commercial users of Ubuntu. Established in 2004, Canonical is a privately held company. For further information please visit www.ubuntu.com

About NXP Semiconductors

NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ:NXPI) enables secure connections and infrastructure for a smarter world, advancing solutions that make lives easier, better and safer. As the world leader in secure connectivity solutions for embedded applications, NXP is driving innovation in the secure connected vehicle, end-to-end security & privacy and smart connected solutions markets. Built on more than 60 years of combined experience and expertise, the company has 31,000 employees in more than 33 countries and posted revenue of $9.5 billion in 2016. Find out more at www.nxp.com.

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