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 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.

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.

Linux is in our computers, our phones, our Wi-Fi equipment, and our TiVos -- why not our cars? Intel Corp. and Wind River have been working with both the embedded and automotive industries to advance in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) with open, Linux-based, standards-based, interoperable hardware and software called Open Infotainment Platforms (OIP).

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.

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

Open-source company Red Hat will initially offer its hypervisor management tools for Windows systems only.

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.