| LynuxWorks CEO ascends to visionary role |
Sep. 25, 2006
  Gurjot Singh (right) has been promoted from COO to CEO of LynuxWorks. Former CEO Dr. Inder M. Singh, who has led the company through virtually all of its 18-year history, will focus on his role as chairman, serving as a strategic visionary.
Gurjot Singh has served LynuxWorks for about 16 years, in a variety of capacities. His last promotion came a year and a half ago, when he was moved from VP of Engineering to COO.
Dr. Inder Singh has served as the chairman of Lynx Real Time Systems since its incorporation in 1988, after graduating from Yale's first-ever graduate program in computer science. He has served as CEO ever since, except for a brief period.
Early on, the company focused on creating real-time extensions to POSIX, resulting in an RTOS (real-time operating system) as "Unix-like" as possible. When Linux began to be applied to embedded systems, the company jumped into the nascent "embedded Linux" market with both feet, changing its name to LynuxWorks, and pioneering the dual-OS product strategy later adopted by other RTOS vendors, such as Wind River and Enea.
Another significant initiative championed by Dr. Singh was the company's charter membership in the Embedded Linux Consortium (ELC). Dr. Singh served as the ELC's chairman for several years, and was a strong advocate of its specification, the ELCPS (ELC Platform Specification).
Asked about his change in role, Dr. Singh told LinuxDevices.com, "This is something I've been working toward for a long time. Finally, the time is right for the company. We've had two very successful years, and we're in growth mode. It's time for me to spend more time on strategic planning and direction."
He added, "As CEO, you're very interrupt-driven. As chairman, I'll be able to work on strategic issues, technology issues, and roadmaps. I'll also be keeping tabs on media trends, and working closely with our executive teams. And, Gurjot and I talk on a daily basis."
Much of the company's recent success has derived from its pioneering efforts to market Linux -- in conjunction with its Linux-like LynxOS RTOS -- to the military and aerospace markets. Dr. Singh was an early early proponent of Linux for military applications. He said, "Linux has been a significant factor in winning many of our major design wins. Linux is more and more a part of the scene, even for customers who have to use LynxOS or LynxOS-178. Some are running Linux applications on their real-time systems, and others are using Linux on their development workstations. So, Linux continues to be a very positive factor for us, even for our safety critical products."
LynuxWorks credits the Linux ABI (application binary interface) in its LynxOS and LynxOS-178 RTOSes with helping it win significant defense contracts such as the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter's cockpit display and the Integrated Communications System (ICS) that the U.S. Department of Defense's massive Future Combat Systems (FCS) project is working on.
Additionally, LynuxWorks's just-updated BlueCat Linux distribution has customers in the military and defense markets. Dr. Singh said, "We have significant business with BlueCat. Linux doesn't have as large a fraction in defense as in other markets. But for what's available, we're more than getting our fair share."
And, Linux could become a growing part of LynuxWorks's business, especially if the current climate of heavy military spending were to change. Asked about where he might be planning to steer the company next, Dr. Singh said, "We are going to be applying vertical market focus and resources to other markets besides the defense market, and Linux will be a big part of that. We'll also continue to push security and our other strengths."
The company has already shipped a version of Bluecat for POS (point-of-sales/service) devices, which enjoyed a recent high-profile design win in Xperex advertising kiosks.
With the proliferation of multi-core processors, virtualization is another promising area for LynuxWorks, given that its "separation kernel," designed for certification to Common Criteria EAL-7 (Evaluated Assurance Level 7) according to the company, was among the first available products capable of running multiple OSes securely on a single system. Dr. Singh said, "Virtualization is an important part of what we're working on, especially as it becomes more affordable, as more support being done in hardware."
Asked for a brief retrospective of some of the company's biggest successes under his leadership, Dr. Singh said, "One of our first big design wins was the space station "Freedom," which later became the International Space Station. We won that with IBM. As a major part of that, we did the first implementation of real-time POSIX extensions.
"Since we were the only Unix-compatible RTOS at the time, we had design wins with many major Unix companies. One was HP. They had introduced HP-UX along with a RISC architecture, and they marketed LynxOS as HP-RT for a time.
"We entered the communication industry with ATT, and were in a major cross-connect switch. We're also in HP's laser-printers, an ongoing product line for us."
In a statement, Dr. Singh said, "Our industry is exploding. Embedded is everywhere. For me to effectively monitor industry innovation, potential new markets, and key issues such as the adoption of Linux, it became clear to me that we needed to expand our senior team -- to install a successor to run the company day to day. Gurjot was the obvious choice. We share a passion for the embedded market and for the continued growth of LynuxWorks."
Gurjot Singh added, "LynuxWorks and the embedded market are in critical growth phases, and I'm humbled the company would choose me to succeed Inder. Like him, I've been fascinated with how things work since I was a child. Today, I am passionate about security; it is the key to the future of the embedded space."
According to a 2000 SEC filing for LynuxWorks's abandoned IPO preparations, Gurjot Singh and Inder Singh are first cousins.
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