Interview with Robert Tordy on OSADL

Interview with Robert Tordy on OSADL

Interview with Robert Tordy, the Director R&D, on OSADL and the joint appearance at the SPS/IPC DRIVES 2011 trade show.

CU: Mr. Tordy, for the sake of everyone who isn’t familiar with the acronym, what does OSADL actually stand for?

RT: It stands for Open-Source Automation Development Lab eG, which is a registered cooperative in Germany. It helps meet the needs of mechanical engineering companies and manufacturers of automation systems in connection with Linux kernel development and open-source projects. Its goal is to drive open-source projects in the fields of mechanical and systems engineering and automation and coordinate them with the open-source community worldwide. A very good example of this is the real-time preempt patch for Linux, which is mainly being driven by OSADL and implemented with OSADL investments.

CU: When did Hirschmann MCS join the cooperative, and how has the Ettlingen, Germany-based company benefited from this involvement?

RT: Hirschmann MCS has been a member since November 2008; I myself have been on the cooperative’s supervisory board since July 2010. The advantages of membership are clear. First of all, we now belong to an organization of members who share the same interests, namely to secure the basis for future open-source software development projects. Second, as a member we have access to independent, competent partners who, when problems crop up, are able to perform initial legal and technical analyses and point us toward a solution. A third way we benefit from membership is from sharing competent services and “best practices” for dealing with technical and legal issues related to open-source activities. We also enjoy exclusive access to professional expertises, licenses, and IPs that OSADL acquires and/or makes available to its members at very reasonably prices.
Last but not least, every member can submit applications or proposals for jointly funded projects and in this way actively influence the development of open-source projects while benefiting from fair, commercially acceptable spreading of the associated burdens among all of the members. The required know-how is shared with OSADL members so they won’t be obliged to reinvent the wheel, which may not even be commercially feasible.

To maintain the high level of quality achieved in open-source projects to date (an example is the RT patch for Linux), OSADL also actively operates a quality control farm where members’ products and applications are subjected to controlled long-term tests with official up-to-date RT-Linux builds. This is a very effective way to ascertain a system’s real-time quality. What’s more, processor benchmarks are carried out in the RT-Linux environment, which generates valuable information for manufacturers of automation products. And finally, long-term quality control is practiced, which safeguards the investments of all of the members.

CU: How does the OSADL cooperative meet the requirements?

RT: OSADL awards implementation contracts that have to be approved by a majority of the members. Everything is developed at an elementary level to ensure that all of the participating companies can take advantage. If, in addition to the investments made by OSADL, members contribute additional funds to cover the development costs, effective solutions can be found faster. This has been done, for example, to enable greater integration of the required RT patches in the standard Linux kernel. As a consequence, the Linux operating system has been getting steadily better since its inception, allowing the members to utilize it for an increasingly wide range of applications.

OSADL also provides its members with many applications and assistance to facilitate their everyday work. For instance, it provides legal advice and support for open-source projects and products. For this, OSADL employs a lawyer who has specialized in the legal ramifications of open-source software.

CU: How is Hirschmann MCS using open-source software?

RT: Our controllers run under Linux with the RT patch from OSADL. This operating system lets us take advantage of current standards without having to implement them ourselves. The most important thing is the open-source code of the operating system, which results in high transparency and acceptance. Many developers around the world are also helping every day to improve the system. The scale of these efforts exceed the capabilities of any one company nowadays. Another major benefit is the portability of the code. RT-Linux runs on many platforms, ranging from the classic x86 architecture across ARM, MIPS, and SPARC to PowerPC and many others. The user interface is the same everywhere. This makes it possible to use and maintain many different hardware platforms with relatively little work.

CU: How do the customers of Hirschmann MCS benefit from this?

RT: The real-time preempt patches give the standard kernel the robust real-time capabilities that are so important to us. This extends, instead of destroying, the existing structures. As a result, less important or nondeterministic tasks can run in the background while higher-priority tasks start at the specified times. This taps into the best of both worlds. And our customers get robust, fast, versatile controllers for their applications.

CU: Why will Hirschmann MCS also be represented at the joint booth of OSADL at this year’s SPS/IPC/ DRIVES show, which takes place in Nuremberg on November 22-24, 2011?

RT: SPS/IPC Drives is Europe’s leading trade show for automation – it’s a must for Hirschmann MCS to exhibit there. But this time we are going to present ourselves not only at the Belden booth but also at the joint OSADL booth. The reason is that we want to show that Hirschmann MCS is actively involved in developing and improving open-source software via our membership in OSADL, which enables us to directly pass the latest new development and innovations on to our customers. We send them the clear message that our active participation in OSADL safeguards their investments in the future.

CU: Why is the Hirschmann MCS presentation at the OSADL booth a must-see?

RT: I’d like to invite the customers of Hirschmann MCS and everyone else who is interested in OSADL to see first-hand the benefits of open-source development and experience the influence and prestige that OSADL now enjoys in the world. They can expect to engage in fascinating conversations and witness innovative solutions.

CU: Mr. Tordy, for the sake of everyone who would like to visit Hirschmann MCS at SPS/IPC DRIVES, where will you be located at the event?

RT: Together with Belden in Hall 10, booth no 10-120, and also at the joint OSADL booth, which is located in Hall 8 and has the number 8-420.

CU: Mr. Tordy, thank you very much for talking with us. We’ll see you in Nuremberg!