Mr. John Wall reports

QNX EXTENDS COLLABORATION WITH AMD TO BOOST PERFORMANCE IN ROBOTIC SYSTEMS

QNX, a division of BlackBerry Ltd., has expanded its collaboration with AMD to support a wider range of AMD adaptive computing devices to enhance performance in robotic systems and other embedded devices. The portfolio now includes QNX software development platform (SDP) 8.0 for AMD Kria SOMs (system on modules) as well as AMD Zynq UltraScale+ and Versal adaptive SoC (system-on-chip) platforms to allow developers to run high performance applications on the QNX operating system (OS) and QNX Hypervisor.

Building on the collaboration announced in April, 2024, QNX and AMD continue to push the boundaries of innovation in embedded systems. The enhanced support for AMD devices underscores QNX's commitment to providing robust solutions for industrial, medical, automotive and robotic workloads, leveraging the real-time operating system (RTOS) capabilities of QNX to enable systems to operate within strict timing constraints, crucial for embedded software.

"We are excited to deepen our relationship with QNX, bringing enhanced QNX SDP 8.0 capabilities to the embedded systems market," said Simon George, director, solutions engineering, embedded software, at AMD. "The combination of AMD adaptive platforms and QNX's proven and trusted RTOS and Hypervisor will empower developers to push the boundaries of what's possible in embedded systems."

"QNX's expanded support for AMD adaptive and embedded products is a testament to our shared vision of driving innovation in embedded systems," said John Wall, chief operating officer and head of product, engineering and services at QNX. "This collaboration enables developers to leverage the strengths of both companies to create next-generation autonomous systems. Embedded real-time workloads often involve computationally intensive tasks, such as running deep learning models for autonomous navigation or object detection. QNX SDP 8.0 optimizes the use of multicore processors, hardware accelerators and GPUs [graphics processing units] to manage these demands efficiently."

With QNX, robotic developers can now harness the power of cutting-edge AMD technology to create sophisticated applications. QNX's deterministic scheduling and low-latency real-time performance can help high-priority tasks such as sensor processing and motion control run first and be executed without hesitation, helping to prevent unpredictable delays and enabling seamless operations.

QNX's initiative to expand support for AMD devices reflects its commitment to offering developers a range of powerful solutions, fostering a diverse and competitive landscape in embedded systems. QNX uses an abstraction layer of hardware-specific software to facilitate the implementation of QNX software on a chosen development platform. It provides initializations and other architecture and hardware-specific tasks needed to prepare an environment in which QNX can run on.

About BlackBerry Ltd.

BlackBerry provides enterprises and governments the intelligent software and services that power the world. Based in Waterloo, Ont., the company's high performance foundational software enables major automakers and industrial giants alike to unlock transformative applications, drive new revenue streams and launch innovative business models, all without sacrificing safety, security and reliability. With a deep heritage in secure communications, BlackBerry delivers operational resiliency with a comprehensive, highly secure and extensively certified portfolio for mobile fortification, mission-critical communications and critical events management.

About QNX

QNX, a division of BlackBerry, enhances the human experience and amplifies technology-driven industries, providing a trusted foundation for software-defined businesses to thrive. The business leads the way in delivering safe and secure operating systems, hypervisors, middleware, solutions and development tools, along with support and services delivered by trusted embedded software experts. QNX technology has been deployed in the world's most critical embedded systems, including more than 255 million vehicles on the road today. QNX software is trusted across industries including automotive, medical devices, industrial controls, robotics, commercial vehicles, rail, and aerospace and defence. Founded in 1980, QNX is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada.