Sysgo said its first milestone will be to simply add support for multi-core AMD processors to PikeOS; after that, it will work with AMD to add support for AMD-V virtualization hardware to the microkernel. A third planned milestone is to utilize AMD's "new I/O MMU" as soon as it is available.
Sysgo claims that virtualization hardware in AMD processors will enable PikeOS to be smaller, more efficient, and more performant. Promised product capabilities include:
- Running applications with different security and safety levels
- Combining several electronic control units
- Running legacy code that's clearly separated from -- but cooperates with -- new technology
AMD's marketing manager of embedded products, Jeff Chu, stated, "With SYSGO's PikeOS technology, hardware and software virtualization can be combined in hard real-time, secure, and safety-critical environments.
Detlev Schaadt, CTO at Sysgo, added, "AMD [has a] leadership role in hardware virtualization, [and] drove their AMD-V technology into the embedded domain."
AMD's recent embedded processor roadmap additions include 32/64 bit chips and
mobile 64-bit chips. The company also recently sampled its first
chipsets with integrated graphics processors following its acquisition of graphics processor vendor ATI.
Sysgo describe PikeOS as a POSIX PSE51 microkernel capable of running single-process, multi-threaded POSIX tasks within secure partitions, alongside a non-real-time operating system environment such as Windows XP Embedded or Linux. Last month, SYSGO
demonstrated Windows XPe and PikeOS running concurrently on "standard" dual-core processor-based x86 hardware.
AvailabilityCurrently, PikeOS supports x86, PowerPC, and MIPS. No timeframe was announced for availability of AMD-V multi-core support.
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