Intel is making moves on the embedded systems market with the acquisition of Wind River Systems for an impressive $884 million (£546 million).

As reported over on vnunet.com, Intel is hoping to start shifting larger quantities of both hardware and software outside of the PC and server market – its more traditional home.

To further this aim, Intel is to make Wind River systems – a major player in the embedded software and real-time systems market – a wholly-owned subsidiary. As part of the deal, Intel gets access to all of Wind River's know how – including the crown jewels, the real-time operating system VxWorks, which is found in a variety of embedded devices from commercial wireless routers to NASA space probes and runs on a wide range of processor architectures, both RISC and CISC.

Intel isn't going to kill the goose that laid the golden embedded egg, however: the company has stated that it plans to allow Wind River to continue under their current business model indefinitely.

Renee James, Intel's vice president of software and services, claimed that the deal would “bring [Intel] complementary market-leading software assets, and an incredibly talented group of people, to help us continue to grow our embedded systems and mobile device capabilities.”

Although Intel already has a presence in the embedded device market, it is nowhere near as major a player as it is in the PC and server sectors. The purchase of Wind River should help give it a major boost – whilst simultaneously helping Wind River pick up a few more sales on Intel's x86 hardware.

Any VxWorks users that are worried Intel might kill off support for non-Intel architectures need not fear: the company has confirmed that support for multiple architectures will continue despite the acquisition.

Anybody used VxWorks in the past? Has Wind River made a good decision in selling, or will Intel drive away its traditional customers? Share your thoughts over in the forums.