Express Logic Announces ThreadX(R) RTOS and NetX(TM) TCP/IP Support for Luminary Micro's New Stellaris(R) LM3S1000/LM3S8000 Series Microcontrollers.

Demonstration Copy of ThreadX Available for Luminary Micro Evaluation Kit

SAN DIEGO -- Express Logic, Inc., the worldwide leader in royalty-free real-time operating systems (RTOS), today announced that Express Logic's ThreadX[R] RTOS and NetX[TM] TCP/IP networking stack now support Luminary Micro's new Stellaris[R] LM3S1000 Series and LM3S8000 Series ARM[R] Cortex[TM]-M3-based microcontrollers (MCUs), also announced today. ThreadX and NetX for the new Stellaris devices are designed for use with the ARM/Keil RealView[R] IDE from ARM.

The additions to the Stellaris microcontroller family offer brand new control and connectivity combinations for the ARM[R] Cortex[TM]-M3 architecture. The new Stellaris LM3S1000 Series features enhanced memory and I/O options and the new Stellaris LM3S8000 Series provides the combination of 10/100 Ethernet MAC+PHY and up to three Controller Area Network (CAN) interfaces on-chip. In addition, a majority of the new Stellaris family members are optimized for low-power applications using a battery-backed hibernation module with a real-time clock and 256 bytes of dedicated non-volatile memory. Now with eighty-five Stellaris microcontrollers to choose from, there are Stellaris microcontroller options to fit the performance, integration, power, and price-point requirements of any industrial application.

A free evaluation version of ThreadX and a demonstration program in source code form are available for Luminary Micro's Stellaris LM3S1968 and LM3S8962 Evaluation Kits. The demonstration program consists of a simple multi-threaded application that uses many advanced, yet easy-to-use features of ThreadX, including message passing, thread creation, and scheduling. The entire application, including the ThreadX RTOS, requires less than 7KB of flash and less than 4KB of SRAM. Users can modify the demonstration or write a completely new ThreadX application up to the evaluation version's limits, which consist of ten threads, one instantiation of each type of memory pool, and a maximum of two instantiations for each of the other ThreadX objects. The demo application is provided in C source code form, is fully integrated with the LM3S1968 and LM3S8962 evaluation boards, and intended for use with the ARM/Keil RealView tools. Applications can be up and running in just a couple of minutes!

"Express Logic's leadership in royalty-free real-time operating systems and dedicated support of the entire Stellaris product family makes them an ideal partner for us," said Jean Anne Booth, Chief Marketing Officer of Luminary Micro. "ThreadX presents a small memory footprint with an easy to use, rich set of system services such as threads, message queues, counting semaphores, and mutexes. The evaluation version and demonstration available for our new Stellaris evaluation kits offers a convenient introduction to the capabilities of ThreadX."

"We are pleased to extend ThreadX RTOS support for Luminary Micro's Stellaris family of Cortex-M3-based microcontrollers, including the 34 new microcontrollers announced today," commented John Carbone, Vice President of Marketing of Express Logic. "Our NetX TCP/IP stack provide real-time networking capabilities in a small, efficient package, which is ideal for the new Stellaris MCUs featuring integrated 10/100 Ethernet MAC/PHY support."

ThreadX is Express Logic's small, fast, royalty-free RTOS for demanding real-time applications. Its royalty-free business model makes ThreadX extremely attractive for high-volume devices. ThreadX's ease-of-use enables ThreadX-powered devices to get to market on time and within budget, which accounts for ThreadX's success in the marketplace and its high-volume implementations. ThreadX has been widely embraced and is currently deployed in excess of 450 million electronic products.

Shipping and Availability

ThreadX and NetX are available in full source code form, royalty free, at license prices starting at $12,500.

About Luminary Micro and Stellaris

Luminary Micro, Inc. designs, markets and sells ARM Cortex-M3-based microcontrollers (MCUs). Austin, Texas-based Luminary Micro is the lead partner for the Cortex-M3 processor, delivering the world's first silicon implementation of the Cortex-M3 processor. Developed for use in embedded and industrial applications, Luminary Micro's introduction of the award-winning Stellaris[R] family of products provides 32-bit performance for the same price as current 8- and 16-bit microcontroller designs. With entry-level pricing at $1.00 for an ARM technology-based MCU, Luminary Micro's Stellaris product line allows for standardization that eliminates future architectural upgrades or software tools changes. Contact the company at [phone] or email [e-mail] for more information.

About Express Logic and ThreadX

Headquartered in San Diego, CA, Express Logic offers the most advanced run-time solution for deeply embedded applications, including the popular ThreadX[R] RTOS, the high-performance NetX[TM] TCP/IP stack, the FileX[TM] embedded MS-DOS compatible file system, and the USBX[TM] Host/Device USB protocol stack. All products from Express Logic include full source-code and have no run-time royalties. For more information about Express Logic solutions, please visit the Web site at http://www.expresslogic.com, call 1-888-THREADX, or email inquires to [e-mail].

ThreadX and FileX are registered trademarks, and NetX, CANX, USBX, preemption-threshold, picokernel, UDP fast path technology, are trademarks of Express Logic, Inc. The Luminary Micro logo is a trademark and Stellaris is a registered trademark of Luminary Micro, Inc. and its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. Cortex is a trademark and ARM is a registered trademark of ARM Limited. All other brands or product names are the property of their respective holders.