System complexity is increasing at an almost exponential rate--one estimate is that it is doubling every four months. A single discrete system is increasingly rare. Distributed and pervasive computing have resulted in systems of systems, and the component systems may be based on several different platforms, processors, and operating systems. They also may have different interconnect hardware, some reliable, some not. Further compounding the complexity is the trend to multi-core systems where some tasks that used to be performed in one central processor are now handed off to dedicated co-processors.

LINX is an inter-process communications (IPC) service for distributed systems. LINX is based on OSE's LINK Handler protocol, that has been a key message passing component in OSE since 1994. Thus LINX is a mature and stable application. It is platform and interconnect independent, scales well to large systems and any topology, and offers the performance needed for high-traffic-bearing components of a distributed system.