Wireless Giant Launches Open Source Subsidiary

Qualcomm recently established a business to focus on open source mobile platforms. INTERNET TELEPHONY Executive Editor Paula Bernier (News - Alert) recently spoke with Rob Chandhok, senior vice president of software strategy for Qualcomm CDMA Technologies and president of Qualcomm Innovation Center, to get a better understanding of the work being done at the new open source center.

Why did Qualcomm (News - Alert) create QuIC?

Chandhok: The Qualcomm Innovation Center Inc. is a wholly-owned Qualcomm subsidiary focused on enabling and optimizing open source software with Qualcomm technology. It was formed to bring focus to open source initiatives by bringing together a dedicated team of software programming experts.

Why launch this effort now?

Chandhok: Open source has become increasingly important to mobile, and QuIC was formed to bring increased focus to open source initiatives. Qualcomm is unique in its market reach, powering the vast majority of 3G handsets as a whole as well as smartphones that are commercially available today. This puts us into a very good position to drive innovation forward for the wireless industry.

Where is the center located?

Chandhok: QuIC is based primarily in San Diego.

How many and what types of employees work for the center?

Chandhok: We don’t disclose staffing levels in our business unit, but it is a significant initiative being undertaken by Qualcomm – indicative of the company’s commitment to enabling and optimizing open source software for use on Qualcomm technology. QuIC is comprised primarily of engineers.

What are the specific projects and deliverables of Qualcomm Innovation Center?

Chandhok: QuIC will work on open source projects that serve our customers and for which there is market demand. The Android, Chrome and Symbian (News - Alert) platforms are top open source priorities. Additionally, open source activity based on Webkit to better enable mobile browser-based Web applications based on HTML5 is one key area.

Is Asterisk (News - Alert) related to this in any way?

Chandhok: No.

What is Qualcomm’s view of open source and its role in the industry?

Chandhok: Qualcomm has been working with open source for some time, meeting its customers’ demands for optimized performance of operating systems such as Android (News - Alert) and Linux on its chipsets. We participate in the open source community to enhance the wireless and Internet ecosystems.

What’s next for open source?

Chandhok: Open source will continue to grow as consumers select devices with the platform that best meets their needs. However, we also believe there is room to grow even beyond software just being open source, where software and hardware are tightly integrated to take full advantage of a technology platform’s capabilities to optimize the mobile experience. This will be an integral part of the next-generation mobile experience. IT

» Internet Telephony Magazine Table of Contents