GoAhead Announces Middleware
Compliant with the Service Availability Forum
Specifications
Hardware Platform
Interface (HPI) Reduces Costs and Time-to-Market
BELLEVUE, Wash.,
August 4, 2003 – GoAhead® Software,
the leading provider of integrated, platform-independent
middleware for high availability (HA) systems, today announced
that it will offer middleware compliant with the Service
Availability Forum’s (SA Forum) Hardware Platform Interface
(HPI). An SA Forum compliant beta version of GoAhead SelfReliant® high
availability middleware is planned for September 2003 with
commercial availability in Q4 2003.
With today’s economics and time-to-market demands,
network equipment providers are seeking ways to reduce development
costs, accelerate product delivery schedules and free resources
to focus on their core product differentiation. In response,
key communications and computing companies including GoAhead,
Intel, Compaq/HP, IBM, Motorola, Nokia, Siemens, RadiSys
and Force formed the Service Availability Forum in December
of 2001 to create open standards for communications equipment
to ensure a carrier-grade infrastructure based on interoperable
hardware and software building blocks. In October 2002, the
SA Forum achieved a major milestone with the release of its
first specification, the Hardware Platform Interface specification
(HPI). By delivering HPI compliance, GoAhead provides a key
component of a highly reliable, application-ready HA platform,
which consists of SA Forum-compliant hardware, operating
system and HA middleware. GoAhead is the first software member
of the SA Forum to announce support for the Application Programming
Interfaces (APIs) that comprise the Hardware Platform Interface.
“HA middleware is a key building block in carrier-grade
infrastructure equipment. GoAhead’s delivery to the market of compliant
middleware will enable network equipment providers, and ultimately
service providers, to realize the cost savings of open platforms
without being locked into a proprietary solution,” said
Timo Jokiaho, president of the SA Forum.
Compliance with the SA Forum’s HPI delivers several
business benefits to network equipment providers (NEPs),
including:
- Isolates applications from change
of the underlying platform (hardware, OS, etc.)
- Improves time to market with pre-integrated off-the-shelf
building blocks for hardware, cpu, operating system,
middleware, database, and stacks
- Allows NEPs to move from proprietary development
to a focus on differentiating their applications
- Lowers development costs by providing a selection
of vendors with proven products
- Reduces risks associated with proprietary
hardware and software development
“GoAhead’s implementation of the SA Forum’s HPI
is a significant step to building out the range of vendors
supplying modular computing components for carrier-grade
equipment,” said Ton Steenman, general manager of the
Embedded Intel Architecture division. “Commercial,
off-the-shelf (COTS) elements that are
based on open standards will return economic
benefits to suppliers
and buyers of
highly reliable systems.”
GoAhead SelfReliant Middleware
SelfReliant runs as a middleware layer on top of the operating
system to manage redundant components for 99.999% availability
and reliability. It features 2-3 millisecond failover
speeds, checkpointing to preserve application data, and
over 38,000 per second distributed message delivery.
Real-time capture, storage and replication of system
and/or application data assure continuous, uninterrupted
service. Its compact footprint (less than 4.5 MB) and
low CPU usage (less than 3% of CPU capacity) are ideal
for the tight resource constraints typical of embedded
systems. External management is conducted either through
a web console or network management via SNMP. The modular
design supports building solutions with off-the-shelf
components and little to no integration. Its flexibility
also allows phasing in high availability functionality
over multiple releases. For projects that require full
HA at first release, GoAhead SelfReliant Suite is pre-integrated
for fast, easy deployment. GoAhead offers a range of
packages to make getting started with SelfReliant easy
and quick. SelfReliant is available for a free 60-day
trial download at www.goahead.com/products/EvalDownload.aspx.
About GoAhead Software
GoAhead® Software provides the first integrated, platform-independent
suite of high availability middleware for developing reliable
embedded systems and applications. GoAhead products are
used by developers in communications, military/aerospace
and other industries with high reliability requirements.
GoAhead SelfReliant® is offered as a fully integrated
suite of software that implements high availability in
complex systems. For project teams requiring specific SelfReliant
functionality, GoAhead also offers three standalone modules:
Basic Availability Management (BAM), Distributed Messaging
Service (DMS), and Embedded Systems Management (ESM). Ideal
for systems such as wireless base station controllers,
softswitches, defense command/control systems and industrial
controllers, SelfReliant helps developers reduce project
risk, lower costs and achieve faster time-to-market. GoAhead
is a privately held company with headquarters in Bellevue,
Washington. For more information on GoAhead, visit the
company’s web site at www.goahead.com or call 425-453-1900.
GoAhead and SelfReliant are registered trademarks of GoAhead
Software, Inc. Intel is a trademarks or registered trademarks
of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United
States and other countries.
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