ARM Community: Snowball - a catalyst for mobile innovation - ARM Community

Snowball is a low-cost, feature-rich developer board based on ST-Ericsson’s Nova™ A9500 application processor, embedding a dual-core ARM® Cortex™-A9 along with peripheral interfaces to about everything that ever can be imagined.

With the Snowball, you get easier access to leading-edge technology thus the means you need to accelerate development of system and software innovations. And even better, further stimulating the development and also opening up the possibilities for cooperation with other industry actors, there’s an entire family of Snowball developers out there.

Collaborate
Igloo is the Snowball developers’ community that facilitates and drives software innovation for Android, Ubuntu, Tizen, QT and Linaro. In the true spirit of the open source, Igloo aims to develop clear win-win relationship between all involved members, to drive innovation through cooperation and creativity. At the heart of the Igloo community is the web portal www.igloocommunity.org, a free and real-time collaborative space where manufacturers and application developers gather and exchange information and ideas, and even solve problems collectively. It’s a one-stop-shop enabling developers to quickly ramp up, get recommendations for hardware interfaces and peripherals and to download complete software packages that are aligned with open source requirements and standards community.

Meet the corner-stones in the community
While everyone in the community contributes in one way or another, it’s worthwhile getting to know the partners that can be considered as the corner-stones:

As an Igloo partner, the open source specialist Movial drives the Igloo website, where basic software support is available in terms of downloadable files, documentations and a wiki. Other Igloo partners can also leverage Movial’s expertise in mobile and embedded Linux precision engineering.

The software packages that are downloadable in the Igloo website are developed and maintained by Linaro. Linaro is a well-known ARM initiative that consolidates and optimizes open source Linux software and tools for the ARM architecture. ST-Ericsson is a strong supporter and main contributor to the Linaro initiative.

When you visit the web site, you will find links to Calao-systems who designs and manufactures the Snowball board and sells it to developers. Calao-systems also provides design services to the Igloo community and can as well make custom Snowball versions.

Azurewave is another Igloo partner providing Snowball with a single package integration of ST-Ericsson’s leading-edge GPS, Bluetooth, FM and WLAN connectivity features together with expertise on Android connectivity. Azurewave is also offering a high-speed modem module based on ST-Ericsson modem technologies.

Innovate and let the fun begin
The range of Snowball developers active in the Igloo community spans the gamut from hardware specialists to software specialists. The creativity that has been demonstrated in terms of can be made with the Snowball board, is however not tied to the expertise of the individuals. They most probably do it mainly because it’s fun, and the open design of this affordable developer board truly inspires this aspect of innovation.

This is what excites me most, getting out there, all together, rolling snowballs on the snowy ground and seeing that the more we are, the more spectacular our creations become.

Guest Partner Blogger:

Philippe Garnier, Ecosystem Program Director at ST-Ericsson, develops the company’s innovation and business through innovative models involving the ecosystem. Prior to ST-Ericsson, Philippe earned over 20 years of experiences in the terminal industry by contributing to the STMicroelectronics telecom business. In partnership with leading companies he introduced innovative technologies such as Bluetooth, video, sensors, Linux and 3G.

ARM welcomes its wealth of Partners in the ARM Connected Community (CC) to submit guest blogs to be published on our multiple community blogs. If interested in participating please submit email inquiries to Tell.Us@arm.com.

The ARM Connected Community (CC) is an extensive ecosystem covering all aspects of ARM processor-based design, from chip implementation through to system and device design. The CC provides a platform for collaborative innovation, with multiple types of forums for members to work with one another, and with customers, to solve industry challenges, all with the purpose of enabling designers to focus on differentiating features and an accelerated time-to-market for ARM powered solutions.