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Open Kernel Labs (OK Labs), the leading global provider of embedded virtualisation software for mobile phones and broadband Internet devices, today announced it has completed calendar year 2009 with revenues up from 2008, despite the worldwide economic recession.
Over the past twelve months, deployment of OKL4 doubled from 250 million mobile handsets to more than 500 million mobile devices. OKL4 now ships on mobile smartphones such as the HTC G1 and G2, the HTC Hero, the Motorola Droid and the Motorola Cliq, the Palm Pre, and the Toshiba TG01OK, as well as the world’s first commercially-available, fully virtualised smartphone, the Motorola Evoke QA4.
In 2009, OK Labs also secured more than US $7.6 million in funding from venture capital firms Chrysalis Ventures and Neo Technology Ventures, as well as from Citrix® Systems, Inc., a leading provider of virtualisation, networking, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) technologies.
“Two thousand nine was a remarkable year for OK Labs and for the mobile/wireless industry. We doubled deployments, expanded product offerings, and gained industry recognition for groundbreaking research,” said Steve Subar, President & CEO, OK Labs. “In 2010, OK Labs will continue its leadership in mobile virtualisation, building on our own investments and emerging partnerships with major players like Citrix and ST-Ericsson.”
Partnership with Citrix – Mobile-to-Enterprise (M2E) Virtualisation
Citrix Systems is both a strategic investor and a key partner for OK Labs, working with the company to provide solutions for delivering enterprise applications to mobile devices with mobile-to-enterprise virtualisation (M2E). The companies’ combined technologies, including Citrix application delivery infrastructure and the OKL4 mobile virtualisation solution, promise easily deployed and securely managed access to enterprise and desktop applications from wireless devices. M2E virtualisation enables end users to leverage a single device, bridging corporate and personal worlds without risk of compromising company data, applications, or networks.
Together, Citrix and OK Labs provide a secure and robust end-to-end application delivery platform for the entire mobile/Internet ecosystem – from mobile semiconductor suppliers to intelligent device OEMs to mobile network operators (MNOs), and global carriers – to meet the needs of mobile workers at small/medium businesses and global enterprises.
Partnership with ST-Ericsson – Extending Reach to the Global Mobile Marketplace
After a rigorous selection process, ST-Ericsson, the world’s third largest mobile semiconductor supplier, selected OK Labs as its virtualisation partner. The companies are working in tandem to build a combined OK Labs / ST-Ericsson platform in 2010.
OK Labs already supports and comprises a key part of mobile chip reference designs from the world’s largest mobile chipset manufacturer, Qualcomm, resulting in deployment of OKL4 in more than 500 million handsets. With the selection of OK Labs by ST-Ericsson, OKL4 will enable an even greater portion of the global mobile marketplace, complementing the large and growing fleet of CDMA devices with TD-SCDMA, HSDPA and other 3.5G and emerging 4G wireless technologies, which are delivered by the world's leading suppliers – Nokia, Samsung, LG, Motorola, and Sony-Ericsson.
New Product Offerings
In the second quarter, OK Labs introduced OK:Android and OK:Symbian, off-the-shelf paravirtualised versions of these popular and widely deployed smartphone OS platforms, supplementing OK Labs offerings for Linux and numerous RTOSes (real-time OSes). Both the Android and Symbian offerings employ OK Labs Secure HyperCell™ Technology to run these platforms as guest OSes in secure cells on top of the OKL4 Microvisor. This architecture gives handset OEMs a faster path to developing and delivering new designs and lower-cost devices, and assures new levels of mobile wireless robustness and security.
OK Labs also launched the industry’s first mobile Virtualisation Integration Practice (VIP). VIP Services offers a set of consulting and training services that help customers to define requirements, validate design approaches, and support mobile phone product development.
Formal Verification of Microkernel Technology
Earlier this year, OK Labs and its research partner NICTA announced completion of groundbreaking research and development, providing formal mathematical proof of correctness of the microkernel technology underlying OKL4. Completed on behalf of OK Labs by researchers at NICTA and the University of New South Wales, the project centered on assuring extremely high levels of reliability and security in mission-critical domains. By mathematically proving the correctness of the underlying kernel, the team paved the way for validating and deploying mobile virtualisation in business and mission-critical applications in mobile telephony, business intelligence, and mobile financial transactions.
This research earned OK Labs CTO Dr. Gernot Heiser and his colleagues a coveted “Best Paper” award at the twenty-second ACM Symposium on Operating Systems Principles (SOSP). As a commercialisation partner for NICTA, OK Labs will be able to bring the results of the formal verification project to market in future generations of its mobile virtualisation products.
New Reach and Continued Membership in Industry Events, Awards
OK Labs presented at several industry events and conferences in the past year including ARM TechCon3, SEE 09, and a virtualisation experts’ panel at an event with Goldman Sachs. Leadership and continued growth by OK Labs earned the company four recognitions of inclusion in the Vision Mobile 100 Million Club, an EE Times ACE Award for Start Up of the Year, ITA City Lights recognition with the Rising Star award, and finalist honors by Red Herring 100 North America. Memberships in the Symbian Foundation and Multicore Associations added to the already established and continued membership in the ARM Partners Association. Additional accolades in 2009 include Heiser’s Scientist of the Year recognition by UNSW Office for Science and Medical Research.
About Open Kernel Labs
OK Labs (ok-labs.com) is the global leader in virtualisation software for mobile devices, consumer electronics, and embedded systems. Backed by the largest independent team of microkernel developers, OKL4 is deployed on more than 500 million mobile phones worldwide. Handset OEMs, mobile network operators, and semiconductor suppliers depend on the OKL4 Microvisor to deliver high performance solutions that decrease BOM cost, reduce complexity, and speed time-to-market.
Open Kernel Labs, OK Labs and Secure HyperCell™ Technology are trademarks or registered trademarks of Open Kernel Labs or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are property of their respective owners.
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