LinuxCon Keynote Q&A: Qualcomm's Rob Chandhok on Why Linux is Essential to the Company's Success

This week’s LinuxCon/CloudOpen keynote Q&A is with Qualcomm Innovation Center President Rob Chandhok. He will be talking about “Mobility, Proximal Data and Compute Meshes” at the event just next month in San Diego. Here he gives us a peek at what that means as well as shares some interesting perspectives on Qualcomm and the mobile opportunities for Linux.

You will be speaking at the upcoming LinuxCon event. Can you give us a sneak peek at what you’ll be talking about?

Chandhok: Typically I range across a host of subjects relevant to developers. This year I will talk about the unique opportunities provided by sensing and discovering the information around us in our mobile lives and how mesh computing could play a part in how we utilize the data and computing power around us as we move about.

Two years ago at LinuxCon you announced Qualcomm Innovation Center’s Linux Foundation Platinum membership.  How has this collaboration served the company over the last couple of years?

Chandhok: Our engagement with The Linux Foundation has been pivotal to our learning how and then successfully engaging with the open source community.  

Samsung’s Galaxy S III U.S. version is using Qualcomm’s Snapdragon™ processor.  Can you tell us more about Qualcomm’s collaboration with Samsung and the role of Linux in that work?

Chandhok:  I’m afraid the developmental work we do with our customers is confidential. Samsung is a highly valued Qualcomm customer and partner, one that boasts deep technical expertise and remarkable innovative flair. For these reasons, their decision to use our Snapdragon mobile processor in the new Galaxy S III is particularly gratifying.

Samsung certainly isn’t Qualcomm’s only customer.  We read recently that Qualcomm is working with more than 70 manufacturers, launching 370 devices with more than 400 in development.  How does Linux and open source enable this aggressive approach?

Chandhok:  The broad adoption of Android has made expertise in Linux-based OSS essential to our success. The fact that Qualcomm is the world’s leading supplier of mobile processors for Android-based devices indicates that we have and continue to successfully understand Linux and open source based ecosystems, in particular through our subsidiary QuIC.   A successful understanding of Linux open source is fundamental to our success in Android.

How do you see Linux and open source evolving in the years ahead to address the opportunities in the mobile and wireless ecosystems?

Chandhok:  Open Source mobile OS adoption continues to consolidate around Android.  New projects are utilizing the broad hardware support for Android, and Android has started to become an important OS in CE markets as well. Linux is an important OS in M2M markets and wireless infrastructure and will continue to extend its presence in many ecosystems.  The future holds opportunity for tapping into the information and computing potential of the plethora of Linux (and non-Linux) devices around us for new and exciting user experiences. 

Chandhok also has some interesting things to share about augmented reality in the cloud. Check out this recent WSJ.com post for more. See you next month at LinuxCon and CloudOpen!