Open Kernel Labs (OK Labs announced that it has joined the Symbian Partner Network to support the growing demand for mobile devices that are virtualized with OKL4, and rely on the Symbian operating system (OS).

Symbian creates and licenses Symbian OS, the OS for smartphones which has shipped 226 million units across approximately 250 different phone models to date. OKL4 is the only commercially deployed embedded virtualization solution for mobile phones, with shipments approaching 250 million units in 2008.

"The partnership with Symbian reflects our ongoing commitment to delivering superior technology to the mobile device market," said Steve Subar, CEO of OK Labs. "The combination of the most widely used smartphone OS, Symbian, and OKL4, the most widely used open source embedded virtualization solution, brings an unprecedented degree of integration and collaboration to mobile application developers, device OEMs and network operators."

"Together, OK Labs and Symbian validate open source as the most logical and viable path for the mobile ecosystem. Only through adopting collaborative development and business models can the needs of the fast-changing mobile market be supported," said Bill Weinberg, principal analyst, Linuxpundit.com. "For OK Labs, the Symbian Partner Network provides an opportunity for broader impact, not just with OKL4 deployment, but also by helping to lead the legacy Symbian community towards openness above and beyond open source plans for the OS itself."