MontaVista Launches Carrier Grade Linux Upgrade

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MontaVista Software Advances Enhanced Linux Platform for Telecommunications
and Networking

Third Generation of MontaVista Linux Carrier Grade Edition Continues Company
Momentum - Gaining Customers and Expanding Ecosystem

ITU TELECOM, GENEVA, Monday, Oct. 13, 2003 ‹ MontaVista Software Inc., the
company powering the embedded revolution, today announced MontaVista® Linux®
Carrier Grade Edition 3.1 (CGE), the next generation of the company¹s
carrier-grade Linux operating system and development environment.

MontaVista Linux Carrier Grade Edition 3.1 advances earlier versions of CGE
with support for key emerging industry standards designed for high
availability and telecommunications. It also adds support for the IBM
PowerPC architecture. CGE 3.1 will be the first Linux operating system to
combine full support for the PICMG 3.0 Advanced Telecommunications Computing
Architecture (AdvancedTCA®) technology with support for key high
availability APIs from the Service Availability (SA) Forum. CGE 3.1 is the
first Linux operating system to begin implementing APIs from the SA Forum¹s
Application Interface Specification (AIS) for clustering. Other highlights
of the new product are increased support for standards including a Native
POSIX Thread Library (NPTL). The third release of MontaVista Linux Carrier
Grade Edition also boasts an expanding ecosystem and growing customer
adoption. 

CGE 3.1 is a carrier-grade quality Linux distribution targeted for edge and
core telecommunications including applications for the converging IP and
voice networks such as soft switches, SGSN  and GGSN  and Voice over IP
(VoIP) gateways, and many other applications. CGE 3.1 enhances standard
Linux with additional real-time, high availability and high reliability
features based on the Open Source Development Lab (OSDL) Carrier Grade Linux
Specification, and it is designed for deployment in any carrier-grade class
environment.

"With a rapidly growing number of major design wins including leading
equipment providers such as Alcatel, Iskratel and NEC, MontaVista Linux
Carrier Grade Edition has gained strong acceptance in telecommunications.
CGE is also being deployed beyond traditional telecommunications
applications in areas such as equipment testing and airport ground services
by leading companies such as Agilent and CNS Systems," said Glenn Seiler,
director of Product Marketing, MontaVista Software. "CGE addresses the needs
of telecommunications equipment manufacturers (TEMs) and networking
equipment providers (NEPs), enabling them to meet ever-increasing
time-to-market pressures by lowering their cost and accelerating time to
deployment."

Key Features

CGE 3.1 adds many important features to the already rich Carrier Grade
Edition product line. New features include Persistent Device Naming
(guaranteeing consistent device naming), SysFS ­ a standard device driver
interface model that supports Persistent Device Naming, and NPTL support for
improved compliance and scalability for POSIX threads. CGE is also certified
on Oracle 9i, Release 2. CGE builds on key new technologies introduced with
the previous release (Version 3.0), some of which are only available from
MontaVista, such as online debugging (MontaVista Field Safe Application
Debugger) and patching of deployed applications (MontaVista Runtime
Application Patcher). MontaVista, a significant contributor to open source,
has also contributed high availability features including the OpenIPMI
project and CompactPCI Hot Swap subsystem. CGE 3.1 now supports more than a
dozen reference boards including both Intel Architecture and PowerPC boards
from vendors like Force Computers, IBM, Intel, Motorola and RadiSys.

Growing Customer Adoption

Earlier this year, Alcatel signed a major multi-year corporate contract with
MontaVista Software for CGE, making it a key building block for Alcatel
products with embedded or real-time constraints. (Read the joint
Alcatel-MontaVista announcement at
http://www.mvista.com/news/2003/alcatel.html)

NEC recently launched a new NEC Advanced-TCA telecommunications platform
for mobile operators using CGE. "We believe that MontaVista Linux is one of
the most powerful Linux development platforms available today and we are
giving our customers the best foundation one can think of to realize their
product features," explained Mr. Takatoshi Numasato, senior general manager
of the Mobile Network Operation Unit at NEC "CGE 3.1 will reduce development
time and costs for telecommunications and networking equipment providers. It
will also allow telecom carriers to provide rich services to their customers
promptly, with carrier-grade reliability, easy operation and high
performance."

CGE also has played a key role for Iskratel, a provider of integrated
telecommunication solutions in Europe. "Iskratel has been able to launch new
and advanced telecommunications products consistent with the needs of our
customers," said Franc Dolenc, director of Iskratel Business Unit Wireline.
"By using a modern OS such as CGE, we can provide our customers with a
low-risk and cost-effective product platform supporting carrier grade
services." 

CGE is the chosen operating system for the data management and monitoring
and control subsystems in the new VDL 4000/GS I ground station from C.N.S.
Systems AB in Sweden. "MontaVista Linux Carrier Grade Edition provided us
with a robust and stable platform and enabled us to get to market in an
extremely short time period," said Tommy Bergström, chief technology
officer, C.N.S. Systems. "We also appreciated MontaVista Software¹s great
regional support and the fact that CGE has been validated to work seamlessly
with our chosen hardware platform."

Emerging Standards

MontaVista Linux Carrier Grade Edition is fully compliant with the current
Open Source Development Lab Carrier Grade Linux Specification 1.1, and the
company will work to ensure future product compliance with OSDL Carrier
Grade Linux Requirements Definition 2.0, announced recently. CGE 3.1 also
supports open modular communications standards such as Advanced TCA 3.x
from the PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group (PICMG). CGE 3.1 is the
first Linux operating system to comply with key APIs from the SA Forum
Application Interface Specification (AIS). They include the AIS CLM (Cluster
Membership) API that provides a mechanism for applications to determine
members of a cluster and track membership changes. The AIS AMF (Availability
Management Framework) API provides a mechanism for applications to register
with the cluster executive. CGE 3.1 will implement an Application Heartbeat
that complies with the AIS AMF specification.

"Once again, MontaVista Software is taking the lead in delivering high
availability open source software solutions that are compatible with
industry standards," said Timo Jokiaho, president of the Service
Availability Forum. "MontaVista Software continues to provide vision and
guidance as well as real products to enhance Linux to meet the needs of the
telecommunications market segments."

Availability

MontaVista Linux Carrier Grade Edition 3.1 will be available in the fourth
quarter of this year. For more product information and highlights of the key
new features in CGE 3.1, please visit 
http://www.mvista.com/cge/index.html.
Additionally, visit the MontaVista Technology Highlights Web page at
http://www.mvista.com/tech5.html.
 
MontaVista Linux Carrier Grade Edition will be featured in 7 different booth
demonstrations at ITU Telecom, Geneva, October 12-18, 2003,
* Intel Booth (Stand No.4111)
Featuring demonstrations by Intel, NEC, Force Computers and HP
* Iskratel Booth (Stand No. 7038)
Featuring new product demonstrations
* RadiSys Booth (USA Pavilion Hall #1, Stand No. 1230.112)
Featuring a scalable SIP server

About MontaVista Softwar

MontaVista Software is a leading global supplier of systems software for
intelligent connected devices and associated infrastructure. MontaVista
powers the embedded revolution by providing GNU/Linux-based open-source
software solutions. Founded in 1999 by real-time operating system (RTOS)
pioneer James Ready, MontaVista offers a family of products under the
MontaVista Linux umbrella that address broad-based software developer needs
encompassing applications ranging from communications infrastructure to
consumer electronics. Multiple Editions of MontaVista Linux are available
including Professional, Consumer Electronics and Carrier Grade, along with
complementary technology products providing powerful Java and graphics
development capabilities.

Headquartered in the heart of Silicon Valley, in Sunnyvale, Calif.,
MontaVista Software is a privately held company funded by leading investors
such as Alloy Ventures, US Venture Partners, RRE Ventures, WR Hambrecht +
Co., IBM, Intel Capital, Sony, Panasonic (Matsushita), Toshiba America and
Yamaha Corporation. For more information about MontaVista Software, please
visit http://www.mvista.com.

Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. MontaVista is a
registered trademark of MontaVista Software Inc. All other names mentioned
are trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks of their respective
owners.

Contacts:

Joe Samagond
Director of Mktg. Communications
MontaVista Software Inc.
Phone: (408) 328-9234
E-mail: jsamagond-AT-mvista.com

Patricia Colby
PR Strategy 
Pacifico Inc.
Phone: (408) 293 8600 x340
E-mail: pcolby-AT-pacifico.com
 
ADDENDUM 

Industry Standards

MontaVista Software has a strong commitment to providing carrier-grade
solutions and is actively participating in several industry initiatives to
define carrier-grade and high availability standards. These include the PCI
Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group, OSDL Carrier Grade Linux Working
Group and the Service Availability Forum.

"The OSDL Carrier Grade Initiative provides an excellent example of how we
work with Linux developers, IT vendors and telecom companies to deliver
market solutions for customers in the telecommunications industry," said
Stuart Cohen, CEO, OSDL. "MontaVista Software has played a leading role in
this initiative and we're pleased that the company is designing its products
to the OSDL Carrier Grade Linux requirements."

"This announcement represents another milestone for the communications
industry in its migration to commercial-off-the-shelf products," said Lisa
Su, director of PowerPC and emerging products, IBM Microelectronics."
MontaVista Software¹s carrier-grade Linux development tools already have a
working implementation on the IBM PowerPC family, enabling communications
technology providers to develop and deploy next generation services."

Effective ISV Ecosystem

MontaVista Software is working closely with the world¹s leading network
equipment providers and their preferred independent software vendors (ISVs)
to create a comprehensive ecosystem of fully validated middleware, tools and
applications for advanced telecommunications and data communications
solutions. Some of the key ISVs in this ecosystem include:

Oracle
Borland 
Continuous Computing
Eternal Systems 
GoAhead 
Hughes Software Systems

IBM Software Group
Parasoft 
Solid Information Technology
TimesTen 
UXComm 
Versant