Linaro Connect

Linaro Connect
Name	Linaro Connect
Status	Active
Genre	Technology conference
Frequency	Semiannual
Location	Varies (international)
First	2010
Organizer	Linaro

Linaro Connect Linaro Connect is an industry event convened by Linaro that assembles engineers, developers, and executives from companies such as ARM Holdings, Google (company), Microsoft, Intel Corporation, Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics, NVIDIA, IBM, and Broadcom to collaborate on open source software for Arm architecture. The event typically combines technical summits, hands-on tutorials, and project sprints, with attendees including representatives from Canonical (company), Red Hat, SUSE, Fujitsu, Huawei, MediaTek, and academic institutions like University of Cambridge, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and University of Oxford.

Overview

Linaro Connect functions as a focal point where contributors to projects such as Linux kernel, U-Boot, LLVM, GCC, OpenEmbedded, Yocto Project, QEMU, OpenJDK, TensorFlow, Kubernetes, Docker, OpenStack, Ceph, and GlusterFS coordinate development, testing, and integration. Sessions often address standards and specifications from organizations like The Linux Foundation, Open Compute Project, IEEE, JEDEC, and ARM Ltd. while involving platform vendors including Texas Instruments, Marvell Technology Group, Allwinner Technology, Rockchip, and BeagleBoard.org.

History and Editions

The inaugural editions followed Linaro’s founding and rapidly attracted engineers from Canonical (company), Red Hat, SUSE, Intel Corporation, ARM Holdings and consumer electronics firms such as Sony Corporation, LG Electronics, HTC Corporation, and Xiaomi. Milestone editions featured co-located events with organizations like Debian Project, Ubuntu, OpenSUSE, Eclipse Foundation, and Apache Software Foundation. Notable host cities have included Cambridge, England, Barcelona, San Francisco, Beijing, Bangkok, Taipei, and Toruń where local universities and research centers such as Tsinghua University, National University of Singapore, and Politecnico di Milano supported workshops.

Conference Program and Activities

Typical programs include keynote addresses by executives from ARM Holdings, Google (company), Microsoft, Samsung Electronics, and NVIDIA; panel discussions with maintainers of Linux kernel, GCC, LLVM, and U-Boot; and tutorials on topics ranging from Embedded Linux stacks to Machine learning frameworks like TensorFlow and PyTorch. Activities incorporate code sprints, interoperability testing with projects such as OpenAMP, OP-TEE, Trusted Firmware-A, 96Boards, Linaro Stable Kernel initiatives, and hackathons co-organized with communities like Yocto Project, OpenEmbedded, Buildroot, and Yocto Project Board. Vendor booths often showcase platforms from Raspberry Pi, BeagleBoard.org, NVIDIA Jetson, PINE64, and Chromebook manufacturers.

Participants and Partners

Participants range from individual contributors affiliated with projects such as Debian Project, Ubuntu, Fedora Project, Arch Linux, Gentoo Linux, OpenSUSE, and Yocto Project to corporate engineering teams from Qualcomm, Broadcom, MediaTek, Fujitsu, IBM, and Canon (company). Partners and sponsors have included The Linux Foundation, Linaro, ARM Holdings, Google (company), Microsoft, Intel Corporation, Samsung Electronics, and research labs at University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, ETH Zurich, and Carnegie Mellon University.

Technical Working Groups and Projects

Working groups formed or active around Connect editions have targeted Linux kernel subsystems, cross‑compilation toolchains like GCC and LLVM, bootloaders including U-Boot, virtualization with KVM and QEMU, and security projects such as OP-TEE and Trusted Firmware-A. Other coordinated projects include Linaro Stable Kernel, Linaro CI, performance profiling with perf (Linux profiling) and LTTng, and containerization efforts involving Docker and Kubernetes. Collaboration also extends to hardware enablement through 96Boards, system-on-chip vendors like Qualcomm, MediaTek, Rockchip, and board ecosystems such as Raspberry Pi and BeagleBoard.org.

Impact and Legacy

Linaro Connect has influenced upstream contributions to Linux kernel, improved cross-vendor interoperability for Arm architecture platforms, and accelerated adoption of toolchain improvements in GCC and LLVM. The event has fostered long-term collaboration between commercial entities like ARM Holdings, Google (company), Microsoft, Intel Corporation, Samsung Electronics, and open source communities including The Linux Foundation, Debian Project, Yocto Project, and Eclipse Foundation. Outcomes include merged patches, coordinated release testing for distributions such as Ubuntu and Debian Project, and hardware enablement layers for vendors such as NVIDIA, Qualcomm, Fujitsu, and Broadcom.

Category:Technology conferences