Part of supporting the demand for Linux in consumer electronics is ensuring there is a common Linux base that is maintained and supported for the typical lifetime of a consumer device, usually two years, and that supports a large variety of consumer electronics products. The Linux kernel is released at such a rapid pace that until now, device makers were doing significant back-porting, bug testing and driver development on their own, which carried substantial cost in terms of time-to-market, as well as development and engineering effort to maintain those custom kernels.