HP acquires Linux fast-boot technology

By Eric Brown
2010-06-11

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HP has agreed to purchase the HyperSpace Linux fast-boot technology from Phoenix Technologies in a deal due to be completed later this month. In addition to purchasing HyperSpace, HP will acquire Phoenix's HyperCore and Phoenix Flip instant-on and client virtualization products, with all three products netting $12 million in cash, says Phoenix Technologies.

After struggling more than most in the recent recession, long-time BIOS vendor Phoenix Technologies earlier this year announced it was planning to refocus on the core systems software (CSS) market, including BIOSes. The sale of HyperSpace, HyperCore, and Phoenix Flip reflect this strategic shift, as did its April divestment of its FailSafe and Freeze software, says the company. Meanwhile, Phoenix says it will focus on core products such as its recently launched SecureCore Tiano 2.0 BIOS.

Like other "instant on" environments, such as Xandros' Presto, HyperSpace is primarily targeted at Windows computers, offering a faster way to quickly access the web, communications, and a few other features such as image viewing. Announced in November 2008, and released in January 2009 for x86 computers, HyperSpace was spun off the following month into an ARM version. Shortly after, Phoenix announced that HyperSpace was compatible with Freescale's i.MX515 system-on-chip (SoC).

HyperSpace comprises a minimalist, stripped down Linux environment with a Gecko- and Firefox-based browser, a WiFi connection manager, and a tiny kernel that leaves most peripherals powered off to save power. On systems with virtualization hardware enabled, Hyperspace can also work with HyperCore to boot Windows in the background, after which the user can toggle between the two environments, claims the company.

The crowded fast boot market

In addition to HyperSpace and Presto, similar technologies include the MontaVista Linux-based Montebello, which forms the basis for Dell Latitude On, as well as Intervideo's InstantOn and DeviceVM's Splashtop.

In late May, Phoenix resolved a legal dispute with DeviceVM, says the company. Details were not supplied, but considering that the Phoenix press release on the agreement refers to DeviceVM as "the leader in instant-on OS platform products," it does not appear as if it worked out too well for Phoenix.

In addition, Acer has applied Android to the fast boot task, offering an Android InstantOn version of Android as an optional dual-boot install with Windows 7 on its D250 and D260 netbooks.

The rise of Linux-based fast-boot environments could result in Linux outshipping Windows, Linux Foundation Director Jim Zemlin suggested in a blog post last year. Since then, however, Windows 7 arrived with much faster boot times than the glacial start-ups offered by Vista. Although Windows 7 still boots up more slowly than most Linux distributions, such as Ubuntu, the faster boot times might have been just fast enough to slow demand for fast-boot technologies.

Will HyperSpace be merged with WebOS?

As the IDG News Service's Agam Shah writes in a story on the deal, HP already offers quick-boot software called QuickWeb, which it uses in its Mini netbooks and Pavilion laptops. HP did not respond to Shah's request for an explanation on whether it would try to integrate the products.

Neither did HP mention whether it would integrate HyperSpace with the Linux-based WebOS stack it is acquiring as part of its pending acquisition of Palm. HP has said it will continue to use WebOS in smartphones, but will also apply it to tablets and printers, though not with netbooks.

Shah suggests that with faster booting tablets starting to impact the sale of netbooks, HP may well use HyperSpace to improve boot times on its netbooks to make them more competitive. His story quotes Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT, as saying the HyperSpace pick-up is a "low-risk and inexpensive buy" for HP.

Stated Tom Lacey, President and CEO of Phoenix, "We are very pleased that HP has agreed to acquire these assets relating to Phoenix's HyperSpace, given HP's rich history of innovation and product differentiation."

Availability

The IDG News story may be found on the InfoWorld website, here.

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