Building embedded solutions on a base of proven software is often the fastest and most reliable road to success. But how do you add features to proven real-time software, code built on years of effort, without disturbing performance and reliability?

An embedded VMM is needed

The TenAsys eVM virtualization platform is an embedded Virtual Machine Manager that hosts your real-time embedded operating systems alongside Microsoft® Windows®. Real-time and Windows applications can communicate efficiently via shared memory. Using the eVM platform, your embedded OS is able to run in parallel with Windows, on a multi-core industrystandard PC-compatible system, in real-time.

Hosting your embedded OS on the eVM platform enables faster and easier migration from outdated hardware to a modern embedded platform. Legacy I/O can be emulated to minimize rewriting proven code. For example, an obsolete ISA system can be migrated to a smaller and less expensive single-board computer solution by redirecting ISA peripheral access to equivalent on-board PCI devices.

Direct access to real hardware

The TenAsys eVM platform accommodates your hardware (access to I/O) and timing (interrupt latency) needs by giving your guest OS direct access to time-critical hardware. This is accomplished by assigning I/O exclusively to each guest OS—allowing use of existing native device drivers for access to hardware

Built on Intel® Virtualization Technology

By utilizing multi-core processors based on Intel® Virtualization Technology, eVM software partitions resources, such as CPU cores, RAM, interrupts, and I/O, between operating systems. Only shared and emulated resources are virtualized. Each OS is guaranteed direct physical access to its dedicated I/O, interrupts, RAM, and CPU cycles.

Partitioning allows the eVM platform to provide your embedded guest OS with the lowest possible interrupt latency, direct and high-speed access to I/O, non-paged RAM, and guaranteed ownership of a CPU core— delivering maximum performance. Partitioning resources also enhances security, by insuring that only your guest OS has access to its time-critical I/O.

Migrating legacy software

Many systems exist today that depend on code written years ago. Unfortunately, these legacy applications may be running on expensive obsolete hardware. Rewriting proven and/or certified embedded code is rarely desirable or economical.

With the eVM platform, legacy code can be migrated from obsolete hardware to modern embedded platforms by using virtualization to simulate old hardware devices, minimizing rewrite of proven legacy code. For example, an obsolete ISA card could be simulated within the embedded VMM by redirecting I/O requests to equivalent on-board PCI I/O devices.

Consolidation reduces cost and increases performance

The net gain for hosting your embedded application on the eVM platform, alongside Windows, is the elimination of redundant hardware, simpler and faster communication between your embedded applications and Windows, improved reliability and robustness, re-use of proven legacy code, and simplified development and debugging. Systems that previously required multiple discrete platforms can be combined onto a single multi-core platform—saving design, manufacturing and maintenance costs.