#009: Zephyr’s Meteoric Rise and What It Means for the Future of Embedded

In today’s Coredump Session, we dive into the origins and evolution of Zephyr RTOS with Kate Stewart, VP of Dependable Embedded Systems at the Linux Foundation. From Intel’s early ambitions to a thriving global community, Kate unpacks how Zephyr grew into a leading open-source RTOS and what makes it uniquely resilient and developer-friendly. This conversation also explores the technical shifts shaping embedded development and how governance, safety, and collaboration continue to steer Zephyr’s trajectory.

Speakers:

• Kate Stewart: Vice President of Dependable Embedded Systems, The Linux Foundation
• François Baldassari: CEO & Founder, Memfault
• Thomas Sarlandie: Field CTO, Memfault

Key Takeaways:

• Zephyr was born from Intel’s desire for a scalable, secure, and open RTOS, evolving from Wind River roots.
• Early adoption of Linux-inspired practices, like Kconfig and "signed-off-by" contributions, lowered friction and encouraged community participation.
• The project’s governance model, emphasizing multi-vendor participation and elected leadership, prevents corporate capture and boosts resilience.
• Zephyr’s pragmatic reuse of tools like MCUboot accelerated development and expanded capabilities.
• Long-term support (LTS) releases—now extended to five years—make Zephyr production-friendly and aligned with regulatory demands like the CRA.
• Innovations like the Twister test framework and open testing infrastructure set Zephyr apart for visibility and maintainability.
• Zephyr thrives as complexity in embedded systems increases, filling the gap left by simpler RTOSes ill-suited for modern MCU workloads.
• Not every project is a fit for Zephyr—especially ultra-low-end 8-bit systems—but it excels in growing, connected device classes.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction and Guest Introduction

04:12 Building Zephyr: Intel’s Open RTOS Bet

06:39 Governance That Guards Against Capture

08:10 Borrowing From Linux, Avoiding Its Baggage

09:41 What Makes Zephyr Different

13:55 Zephyr in Production: LTS and Real-World Adoption

16:15 Scaling with Twister and QEMU

18:15 Taming Complexity Without Losing Performance

35:45 SBOMs and the Future of Compliance

38:20 A Head Start on Security Standards

43:02 Inside Zephyr's Safety Certification Journey

46:44 Real-World Use Cases and Industry Uptake

50:25 What's Next for Zephyr and the RTOS Landscape

53:12 Final Reflections and Closing Thoughts

⁠⁠Join the Interrupt Slack

Watch this episode on YouTube

⁠Suggest a Guest⁠

Follow Memfault

• ⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠

Other ways to listen:

⁠⁠.css-j9qmi7{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:row;-ms-flex-direction:row;flex-direction:row;font-weight:700;margin-bottom:1rem;margin-top:2.8rem;width:100%;-webkit-box-pack:start;-ms-flex-pack:start;-webkit-justify-content:start;justify-content:start;padding-left:5rem;}@media only screen and (max-width: 599px){.css-j9qmi7{padding-left:0;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;}}.css-j9qmi7 svg{fill:#27292D;}.css-j9qmi7 .eagfbvw0{-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;color:#27292D;}