San Francisco; Embedded Systems Conference — (press release excerpt) — this week at the Embedded Systems Conference, General Software unveiled Firmbase, a software development kit (SDK) that offers a fault-tolerant, run-time infrastructure which allows high-availability firmware programs (called “firmware applications”) to run concurrently with industry-standard operating systems (including Linux). The technology supports x86 architecture processors which provide system management mode (SMM) capabilities.

Firmware applications run inside the Firmbase environment, independently of the embedded target's foreground operating system, whether the foreground OS is running, has not booted yet, has crashed, or is missing. Because of their independence from the foreground OS, firmware applications can cooperate with applications in other devices, be remotely managed by service personnel elsewhere on the network, or alert managers to changes in the network infrastructure at the hardware level.

Firmbase is a unique operating environment because it is not an operating system replacement — it is a complementary operating mode that increases the availability of a system running Windows, Linux, or any proprietary operating system. Using a patented technique, Firmbase runs protected mode code within System Management Mode (SMM), the third mode of the x86 processor architecture. SMM was originally used for implementation of BIOS Advanced Power Management support, which needed to operate independently from the foreground operating system. With the industry's shift to ACPI for its power and control standard, SMM can now be used to increase the availability of embedded systems.

Additional Firmbase run-time components include an TCP/IP, UDP, ICMP, and ARP. This protocol suite, with its associated Sockets interface library and Media Access Control drivers for industry standard embedded Ethernet controllers, provides the run-time connectivity needed by firmware applications to support live remote reporting and remote management. Layered above the Internet Protocol Suite are two ISO presentation-level protocol modules, providing an HTTP Web Server and POP3 client. These two components provide the high-level services needed by firmware applications to interoperate with remote web browsers and industry-standard email infrastructures worldwide.

The Firmbase SDK includes high availability applications, binary runtime components, application support libraries, sample firmware application code for device drivers, file system drivers, and printed documentation.

 
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