Intel's Wind River subsidiary is now the leader in embedded Linux, at least when it comes to revenues, according to the market analysis by VDC Research. Wind River, which was acquired in June by Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) for $884 million, has more than 30 percent of the total market revenue for embedded Linux, VDC found. Rival MontaVista Linux sees another story.

Among the most widely deployed embedded operating systems on the planet is Wind River's VxWorks real-time OS. This week, Intel's (NASDAQ: INTC) Wind River division is updating VxWorks to version 6.8, providing new multi-core and 4G wireless capabilities.

Wind River and PrismTech announced a jointly developed "Spectra SDR" software-defined radio (SDR) middleware platform for both military and public sectors, compatible with Wind River's Linux and VxWorks distributions. Meanwhile, Wind River launched a blog feature, starting with President Ken Klein explaining how Wind River is a "firewalled subsidiary" of Intel, committed to independence.

Intel's acquisition of Wind River on Thursday is a strong push by the chip maker to extend Linux support across devices that use its processors, analysts said.

Wind River yesterday announced solid 3Q earnings, touting wins in embedded Linux consumer electronics. In its earnings call yesterday, the Alameda, Calif.-based embedded Linux OS and tools vendor pointed to the growth in Linux-based mobile handsets and telematics as key drivers of the company's growth.

Thanks to a new joint effort between Intel and Wind River, you may soon be running Linux in your car. The effort will run under the auspices of the Intel led Moblin.org effort and will deal specifically with the in-vehicle infotainment marketplace. The idea is to create a Linux based Open Infotainment Platform that will run on Intel's Atom processor.

An influential industry group collaborating on a common Linux-based operating system for mobile phones has standardized on a common toolchain. The Linux Mobile Foundation (LiMO) will standardize on Wind River's commercial Linux technology as a "Common Integration Environment" (CIE), Wind River announced.

Embedded specialist Wind River strives to win mobile network users with hardware compliance and its own Android branding.

One area of open source that I struggle with is that of mobile Linux: there are so many competing and intersecting initiatives that it is hard to tell who is doing what – and who is winning. Here are some fascinating thoughts from someone deep within that world, Jason Whitmire. He's General Manager of Mobile Solutions at Wind River – once one of embedded Linux's fiercest foes, and now one of fondest fans: