16 December 2008

OK Secure HyperCell Built On ARM Multicore Targets Mobiles

Open Kernel Labs (OK Labs), a member of the ARM Connected Community, has introduced its roadmap for supporting advanced mobile chipsets built on ARM Cortex-A8 and Cortex-A9 MPCore multicore processors, targeting smart and feature phones.

Open Kernel Labs OKL4 already supports a number of shipping multicore ARM chipsets, including the Qualcomm MSM7201A. By targeting mobile chipsets built on ARM Cortex processors today, OKL4 can accompany the rollout of the latest ARM technology by the gamut of ARM CPU licensees, such as Broadcom, Freescale, Marvell, NXP, Qualcomm, Samsung, and ST Microelectronics, the company explained.

“Not so long ago, multicore processors were only found in high-end data center hardware,” explained Steve Subar, CEO, Open Kernel Labs. “Multicore CPUs are now main stream in the data center and on the desktop, and are rapidly making inroads into mobile/wireless device design. To support that trend, mobile chipset vendors and handset OEMs look to OK Labs to help them realize optimal performance and reliability from current and next-generation multicore CPUs.”

“Virtualization technology enables OEMs to make rapid use of the advances in multicore technology in the ARM Cortex processor family,” added Eric Schorn, Vice President of Marketing, Processor Division, ARM. “As ARM continues to invest in processors such as the Cortex-A9 MPCore and the ARM11 MPCore processor, software partners like OK Labs are helping streamline the adoption of advanced software developments while enhancing ARM processor capabilities for the Connected Community.”

Open Kernel Labs OKL4 Secure HyperCell platform addresses a range of applications and cases for virtualization and multicore CPUs. The most ubiquitous is the need to manage and distribute the capabilities of multiple CPU cores to one or more simplex (non-SMP) client operating systems (e.g., a legacy RTOS). Another is to facilitate the sharing of multiple cores among both simplex and SMP client OSes (RTOS, Windows Mobile, SymbianOS and Linux). For these and other cases, OKL4 provides critical support for load balancing, multi-threading, and inter-client communication in a secure and reliable virtualization platform.