A French company will demonstrate platform virtualization technology based on a microkernel hypervisor at an ARM Technical Symposium in Paris on Nov. 17. Trango says its hypervisor allows multiple operating systems to run on a single processor. The company ships its hypervisor product with Linux 2.6 and eCos kernels.

Trango says it will demonstrate an ARM9 processor running two Linux 2.6 instances, an eCos 2.0 RTOS (real-time operating system), and a “security kernel” and applications.

Diagram of Trango's demo

Trango says its hypervisor consists of a “ROM-able, secured boot” microkernel that is specialized for each supported processor architecture. The microkernels typically have footprints less than 20KB, and are available for single- and multi-core processors, as well as multi-threaded processors.

The Trango hypervisor microkernel divides its host CPU's resources and address spaces into virtual MMU-enabled processors, on which guest OSes run in CPU user mode, the company says. The virtual processors support most guest OS drivers without porting, Trango says, along with guest OS native applications and development tools.

The hypervisor can enforce strict partitioning between guest OSes, and also provides a mechanism for high-speed communication between them, the company says.

Typical use case for Trango hypervisor

Touted use cases and advantages include:

• Reuse legacy RTOSes alongside Linux
• Intermediate step to multi-CPU chips of the future
• Portability layer to new architectures
  • Supports a wide range of processors, without any change to the guest OS's source code
• Reduce certification burden for high security applications
• Deploy SMP software on single-core, multi-threaded CPUs
• Saves power and cost compared with multi-processor systems

Target applications include set-top boxes, mobile phones, network equipment, certified systems, and automotive systems.

Trango supplies its hypervisor with source code and a development framework that includes Eclipse plug-ins. It also supplies Linux 2.6 and eCos 2.0 kernels that work with the hypervisor, along with a variety of development, monitoring, debugging, benchmark, and testing tools.

Trango additionally offers engineering services, including customization and integration of the Trango hypervisor, and proprietary or commercial OS porting.

Another French company offering similar platform virtualization technology, Jaluna, is also slated to attend the ARM Symposium. A full list of attendees can be found here.

Additional details about the Trango hypervisor can be found in a follow-up story, based on an exchange with Trango's business development director. That story can be found here.

 
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