Concurrent and Opal-RT Technologies Announce Strategic Alliance
Concurrent Computer Corporation, Real-Time Division, announced a strategic partnership agreement with Opal-RT Technologies. Under the agreement, Opal-RT will develope a new Linux version of its RT-LAB software for Concurrent’s iHawk Series 860 family of systems powered by RedHawk Linux. Concurrent will be the sole reseller of the RT-LAB Linux offering outside of Canada. The new product will be promoted under the RT-LAB RLX brand
Under the terms of the agreement, RT-LAB RLX will include base functionality equivalent to Opal-RT’s RT-LAB product family with an extended I/O driver feature set. Compatibility with leading simulation development toolsuites including The MathWorks’ Matlab/Simulink and National Instruments’ MATRIXx will be inherent in the offering. Opal-RT and Concurrent will cooperatively develop the product to ensure product features respond to a wide range of real-time simulation requirements. Further terms of the agreement include provisions for cooperative marketing, customer support and training. General availability of RT-LAB RLX is scheduled for December 2003. Opal-RT will retain the right to sell RT-LAB RLX in Canada, and will also become an iHawk reseller for Canada.
The iHawk Series 860 is Concurrent’s high performance, multiprocessor, PCI-based computer platform based on the Intel Xeon CPU. The heart of the iHawk is Concurrent’s RedHawk Linux operating system, compatible with the popular Red Hat Linux distribution and enhanced by Concurrent’s real-time Linux kernel.
Opal-RT’s RT-LAB simulation software is a widely adopted real-time distributed platform leveraged by engineers who use mathematical block diagrams for simulation, control and related applications. Built using commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) technologies, RT-LAB offers a scalable, high-performance, real-time environment for the most demanding of hard-real-time simulations from complex dynamic models developed in Simulink and MATRIXx software.
According to Paul Meyer, president of Concurrent’s Real-Time Division, “The synergies of this partnership, as well as the customer benefit byproducts, are plentiful. The COTS and real-time attributes of both iHawk and RT-LAB will truly deliver a best-of-breed solution for simulation engineers desiring off-the-shelf components with uncompromising speed, scalability and determinism. We expect this partnership will position us for growth in the $200 million automotive hardware-in-the-loop simulation sector and allow us to offer a more complete solution set to our aerospace customers.”
According to Jean Bélanger, president, Opal-RT Technologies, Inc., “The combination of our distributed real-time technologies and the Concurrent platform will allow engineers and scientists to extend their simulation capabilities into areas only currently imagined. Research laboratory managers will also appreciate the totally integrated and high-performance solution this partnership offers — at the right price and at minimal risk.”
