Intel acquires Linux mobile developers for Atom

Intel Corporation has acquired Opened Hand, a London-based company which specialises in mobile Linux development and services.

Opened Hand will focus on participating in the Moblin Software Platform community, which is developing a Linux software stack for Intel's Atom processors. The software will be optimised for low-power netbooks and 'mobile internet devices'.

"Opened Hand brings great expertise and technology in the area of user-interaction frameworks, improving Intel's ability to address the unique challenges of enabling cutting edge UIs for these new class of devices," a spokesperson for Intel told ZDNet.co.uk.

Intel will continue to support existing Opened Hand projects, including software library Clutter, used for GUI creation, and Matchbox, an open-source base environment for the X Window System. These projects will become part of the Moblin project.

Describing itself as "kind of like the 'Millenium Falcon' of Floss, or worst case, an Ewok village", OpenedHand employs numerous core Gnome developers, and is a member of the Gnome advisory board.

Opened Hand, which has Nokia Internet Tablets, One Laptop per Child, Openmoko and Vernier as clients, will join the Intel Open Source Technology Center.