IAR, a global leader in embedded software solutions, has marked a new turning point in safety-centric embedded development.

IAR recently announced commercial-grade support for the open source real-time operating system, Zephyr RTOS, along with the release of version 9.70 of its toolchain for Arm.

This move is expected to accelerate the adoption of Zephyr RTOS in commercial embedded systems that require security and scalability.

Zephyr RTOS is used in various IoT and edge devices due to its lightweight design, scalability, and community-based development philosophy, and is operated under the leadership of the Linux Foundation.

IAR has been making continuous technical contributions since joining as an official member in January 2025, and with this toolchain update, it provides a verified development environment for Zephyr 4.1 and later versions.

This release integrates IAR's advanced debugging, RTOS awareness, and code analysis capabilities to give developers a deeper understanding of system performance and operational flow.

In particular, features optimized for the CI/CD development method increase the productivity of the development cycle, and official certification for functional safety-related standards such as ISO 26262, IEC 61508, and IEC 62304 is also planned to be supported.It has strengths in regulatory response.

“We are extending the IAR platform with commercial-grade support for the Zephyr RTOS, enabling developers to design reliable, scalable systems by combining the flexibility of open source with the capabilities of IAR’s advanced tools,” said Thomas Anderson, IAR CPO.

“The combination of a trusted toolchain and open innovation provides a critical link in the commercial deployment environment,” said Kate Stewart, vice president of the Linux Foundation.

The IAR platform supports target devices from major semiconductor manufacturers such as NXP, STMicroelectronics, and Nordic, as well as QEMU-based simulation environments, and is suitable for commercial and industrial applications with its highly optimizing compiler and overall system integration capabilities.

More detailed technical information and webinars can be found on the IAR official website and the Zephyr project site.