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Startup a la Mobile's Convergent Linux Platform, a configurable operating system for mobile phones, is now available for evaluation by handset manufacturers. The company becomes the first to deliver a full Linux platform to manufacturers, ahead of PalmSource and the Access Linux Platform (ALP) even.

"a la Mobile is proud to be the first in the industry to deliver a complete Linux system platform for mobile phones at a time Linux is beginning to gain momentum in the mainstream mobile market," said Pauline Lo Alker, President and CEO of a la Mobile. "Harnessing the power of open source together with innovative development and integration, our complete platform offering will decrease platform fragmentation and help accelerate the industry's adoption of Linux for mobile phones."

That's because Linux on a handset today is very much a proprietary affair, which leads to fragmentation. While the components are open source, the end product - the platform itself - is only used on a particular mobile phone vendor's handsets. Take Motorola with its more 5 million Linux-based phones, and NEC, which has released 8 million in Japan: An application built for Moto's Linux phones won't run on NEC's, for example.

Should a la Mobile score manufacturer customers, the device makers will be able to take Convergent Linux the way it is or customize it. Vendor’s have already expressed interest, according to Lo Alker.

"The desire for a trusted alternative to proprietary mobile operating systems (e.g. Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, Symbian) is perhaps the handset industry's worst-kept secret. Our Convergent Linux Platform is the first solution to actualize this desire, ending the proprietary chokehold on handset innovation," Alker said to PDAStreet back in June. "Our goal is to help accelerate Linux-based phones' time-to-market while contributing to the overall cause of the broader Linux and open-source community."

a la Mobile will install the Convergent Linux stack on a sample smartphone and show it off at LinuxWorld in San Francisco next week.

More on Convergent Linux Platform
At the center of a la Mobile's Convergent Linux Platform is its Hardware Mobility Engine and Network Mobility Engine. The company says the Hardware Mobility Engine enables a tested software suite in binary form (operating system and applications) to move across different hardware platforms without porting or diminishing performance.

With it, a la Mobile says handset manufacturers can quickly develop a family of handsets by utilizing the same underlying binary software stack for all models. This is supposed to drastically accelerate time-to-market; ensuring software compatibility and interoperability across a product line.

The company says the Network Mobility Engine provides a policy-based framework for the seamless handover of IP-based services (voice, data and video) between network transports without requiring any modification in the network infrastructure or the IP applications. Based on a la Mobile's Multi-Mode IPT technology, it gives a network operator the flexibility to deliver IP services based on a pre-defined set of policies, such as available network service, best costs, or application bandwidth requirements, a la Mobile says. It also allows for automatic selection of appropriate network transport when service is acquired or lost.

Version 1.0 of Convergent Linux will include configurable components like applications (PIM, browser etc.), frameworks (interface, multimedia), User Interface (Icons, Decoration, Branding), Low Level System (Device Management, Synchronization, DRM).

Specific software integrated from third-party and open-source partners include Linux Kernel 2.6, GSM/GPRS solution from HelloSoft, firmware over the air (FOTA) solution from Red Bend, Qtopia application framework and UI from Trolltech, Browser, Messenger and multimedia framework from Obigo AB, Flash, and incorporated with Java ME.