Multicore and Unicore Virtualization

Sometimes I get a chance to browse the web a bit, trying to find interesting tidbits. I ran into the following post from Hollis Blanchard. Hollis is an active participant in the world of virtualization, particularly on the Power architecture.

Hollis makes a point that I have been trying to get out as well: virtualization is clearly technology to look into when you are building multicore systems, but also when you are building unicore systems.

Basically, the context is like this:

1. You have an existing application on Linux or RTOS on an older processor
2. A newer, faster processor is available 
3. You would really like to use the latest RTOS version, or a new Linux kernel to add more features to your product to make your product more competitive

Virtualization allows you to run the existing application as one virtual machine and then add a new virtual machine next to it with your new RTOS or Linux and implement new functionality there.

Sounds too good to be true? Well, the technology is available today and Wind River is helping many customers to achieve exactly this for their next product line.

(Hollis also uses the sentence ''carve up your multicore system into multiple single-core systems". 'Carving up of a system' is an expression I frequently use to describe in a few words what virtualization is all about.)