14 DAY TRIAL // Continuing to plan for the road ahead, Santa Clara, California-based Intel has just announced that it has entered the final stage of negotiation with Wind River Systems, which will be acquired by the world's leading chip maker for approximately US$884 Million. Wind River Systems is a company that specializes in software for the embedded devices market, VxWorks being one of their most recognizable products. This market segment is of particular interest to Intel, which is aiming to diversify its product lineup beyond the traditional desktop and portable PC markets. With the acquisition, Intel will have more weapons to compete against ARM in the embedded systems area.
“This acquisition will bring us complementary, market-leading software assets and an incredibly talented group of people to help us continue to grow our embedded systems and mobile device capabilities,” said Renee James, Intel vice president and general manager of the company's Software and Services Group. “Wind River has thousands of customers in a wide range of markets, and now both companies will be better positioned to meet growth opportunities in these areas.”
Intel is currently trying to expand its product portfolio to new areas. Such is the case with the embedded systems and mobile devices segment, which consists of several product designs, including smartphones, mobile Internet products and other consumer devices. This is a market segment currently dominated by ARM architecture and represents a multi-billion dollar opportunity for the world's leading chip maker.
With the help of Wind River Systems, Intel will continue to expand its knowledge in the aforementioned field, preparing for the upcoming release of its next-generation MID platform, which will be built on the company's x86 architecture. With Microsoft putting an end to claims regarding an ARM-ready Windows 7 operating system, Intel has a strong opportunity to take some market share from this ARM-based segment.