Real-time OS: TenAsys ships eVM for Windows Embedded Virtualization Manager

Software product enables different real-time operating systems to run alongside Windows on the same multicore processor.

By Renee Robbins March 4, 2010

TenAsys Corp. is now shipping eVM for Windows, which it says is the first embedded virtualization manager software product to enable different real-time operating systems (RTOSs) to run alongside Windows on the same multicore processor platform without sacrificing determinism, performance or features.

Using eVM for Windows, applications that have been developed for standalone RTOSs such as QNX, VxWorks, Windows CE, and others can now be run on multicore Windows platforms with full native performance. Unlike other virtualization schemes, which can fail in time-critical applications, eVM for Windows’ embedded virtualization technology uses hardware-assisted features built into Intel processors to allocate hardware resources and ensure that time-critical I/O processes aren’t interrupted.

eVM for Windows is being demonstrated with different RTOSs and Windows at the Embedded World 2010 exhibition in Nuremberg, Germany this week (March 2-4, 2010).

"TenAsys was founded to focus on developing software that utilizes virtualization in embedded PC hosted applications," says Kim Hartman, TenAsys vice president of marketing and sales. "eVM for Windows is the result of progressive innovation and validation of our technologies in mission-critical applications that has taken place over more than a quarter century. It allows us to deliver the benefits that we have been delivering via our own very successful INtime for Windows RTOS to customers who have too deep of an investment in intellectual property based on other RTOSs to port their applications to INtime."

Jim St. Leger, technology marketing manager, Intel Performance Products Division, says, "The embedded industry is looking for tools to fully utilize the capabilities of multicore processors, such as the Intel Core i7 processor. By combining an embedded hypervisor such as TenAsys’ eVM for Windows along with hardware-based Intel Virtualization Technology, end users can enjoy savings through workload consolidation," in the form of real-time operating systems and general-purpose operating systems co-existing on a common platform.

Hartmann says eVM for Windows enables cost savings by allowing systems that previously required multiple platforms in order to guarantee determinism to be implemented on a single multi-core platform. In addition to saving hardware costs by eliminating redundant memories, power supplies, circuit boards, and interconnects, this approach also cuts the cost of system design and maintenance. Investments in legacy software are protected by enabling the hosting of legacy RTOSs and application software on their own cores while new features are implemented on other OS environments on other cores, he says.

Also at the Embedded World 2010 show, TenAsys demonstrated its INtime for Windows OS on the latest series of Intel Atom processors for embedded applications, including both single-core hyper-threaded chips and dual-core processors. "We’re excited to see the extension and proliferation of dual-core IntelTMprocessor D510 – providing different cost/performance options for use in embedded and time-critical applications," says Hartmann.

"It is important that deterministic real-time support is available for our embedded customers who also want to run Windows," said Jonathan Luse, director of marketing, Intel Low Power Products Division. "The multi-threaded properties of the new Intel Atom processor N450, D410 and D510 are embedded in the hardware and enable developers to consolidate platforms and run both real-time and general-purpose operating systems on low-power platforms – a true breakthrough for many industrial and control applications."

– Edited by Renee Robbins, senior editor
Control Engineering News Desk

See also:
Software Virtualization Environment Enhances Control
CNC system simultaneously runs a real-time operating system and MS Windows XP to gain multitasking capability and real-time determinism.