BlackBerry QNX SDP 8.0 - A Breakthrough in Performance and Scalability for Embedded Systems and SDVs
Automotive and IoT (Internet of Things) manufacturers are looking for ways to address increases in device complexity, automation, and connectivity without compromising performance, reliability, safety, or security. Adoption of scalable high-performance computing is fast becoming a reality for next-generation IoT systems, including software-defined vehicles (SDVs), and solving these challenges has never been so critical. BlackBerry QNX is answering this need with QNX® SDP 8.0, featuring the QNX® Operating System (OS), powered by our next-generation microkernel.
This latest release of BlackBerry’s QNX Operating System and Development Tools, collectively known as our Software Development Platform (SDP), builds on the proven and trusted QNX microkernel architecture, bringing greater determinism, performance, and seamless 1-to-1 scalability with the number of CPU cores to embedded systems across IoT and automotive industries.
QNX SDP 8.0 will help realize the potential of multi-core processors used in compute-intensive system architectures that automakers and IoT device manufacturers are turning to in order to deliver the highly responsive experiences demanded by their customers.
To power this innovation, I’m proud to announce the early access release of QNX SDP 8.0, a game-changer for embedded system performance. With this release, we’re offering a future-proof design that will help our clients get the performance they need, along with the safety and security they require – without tradeoffs or compromises.
QNX SDP 8.0 has been years in the making, and is the result of our team’s intensive research and development. To forecast future market requirements, we looked ahead 10 years and incorporated features to accommodate them. Concurrently, we worked closely with key customers and partners to address their next-generation system needs – work that involved next-generation, high-performance systems-on-a-chip (SoCs).
The Most Powerful QNX OS Ever Released
Today’s early-access release of the QNX SDP 8.0 is powered by a new, next-generation QNX OS, something I previewed during a recent episode of Get In: The Software-Defined Vehicle Podcast from BlackBerry.
This release represents the highest-performing, safe, and secure embedded OS in BlackBerry history. With that, it brings several unique properties and capabilities to the market:
- With the top-to-bottom scalability inherent to QNX SDP 8.0 and QNX OS, it is the natural choice for automakers and IoT device companies looking to develop highly responsive, high-performance, or compute-intensive systems.
- The new architecture shows an unprecedented 1-to-1 performance scaling factor. As CPU core counts increase to 64 and beyond, BlackBerry QNX customers can fully realize the performance of next-generation processors — by maximizing utilization of the available compute resources while also reducing overall costs.
- Along with a step-change in performance, it remains an inherently safe and secure, POSIX-compliant, microkernel-based, real-time OS.
- Whether using QNX SDP 7.x or UNIX-based operating systems, including all variants of Linux®, users can easily migrate to QNX SDP 8.0 to support their latest development of compute-intensive embedded systems.
- It gives developers immense flexibility. They can reap the benefits of these advancements across products and product lines leveraging common APIs, common tools and knowing that they have a trusted roadmap path to safety certification.
I am extremely excited about this market-leading work by the QNX team — and I’m not the only one, as you’ll see.
Automotive Trends Demand a “Total Car” OS
The automotive evolution to SDVs and “connected cars” requires an OS capable of speed, safety, and security — while unlocking the power to innovate.
"With more than 300 million vehicles capable of over-the-air software updates expected to be on the road globally by 2032, automakers are clamoring for better tools to help them develop compelling technology features in the software-defined vehicle," says Alex Oyler, director of North America at SBD Automotive, a leading global automotive technology research and consulting firm.
“Both automakers and suppliers rely on validated software and well-integrated development tools to help them more efficiently build and maintain differentiating software for their fleets,” Oyler adds. "A secured-by-design operating system such as the next generation QNX OS — that seamlessly integrates with other software components on a high-performance system-on-chip — represents the foundation of a safe, secure, and seamless experience for drivers.”
In addition, early reviews of the new QNX SDP 8.0 give automotive industry leaders a glimpse into what’s possible.
“The combination of our DRIVE Thor centralized computer and the new QNX OS will serve as a powerful foundation on which OEMs can build next-generation automotive systems that offer the highest levels of safety and security,” says Ali Kani, vice president and general manager of automotive at NVIDIA. “This represents another major milestone in a nearly 20-year collaboration with BlackBerry QNX that has helped both companies move to the forefront of the automotive industry.”
Availability of QNX SDP 8.0
QNX technology is already in more than 215 million cars on the road, and that number grows by the day. Now, QNX SDP 8.0 lays the foundation for a new generation of the BlackBerry® QNX® product portfolio. This includes next-generation QNX® OS for Safety, QNX® Hypervisor, and QNX® Hypervisor for Safety.
The early access release of QNX SDP 8.0 is available immediately for evaluation and product development. General availability is scheduled for later in 2023.
