Under Development

Chip off the new block

Virtualisation is a widely recognised method of adding mainframe-like capabilities to inexpensive Intel or AMD processors. CPU-level virtualisation on the desktop is seen as the way ahead, says Venkatesh Ganesh.

We have heard of virtualisation technologies for servers. But what about virtualisation technology for desktops? It is not farfetched to think of a hardware technology that can split a system into several virtual parts that work independently and use the same resources on a PC. In fact, this technology makes it easier to manage corporate desktops and notebooks by allowing companies to create separate, secure partitions for work-related applications and data on a given PC.

Users could create virtual partitions, isolating multiple user environments, such as dedicating resources to PC games, personal video recorder-type environments, productivity tools, as well as improve defences against viruses or spyware.

Both Intel and AMD are betting big on this. The recently-announced release plans for AMD’s Pacifica technology advance the industry-wide trend towards hardware virtualisation—a trend that Gartner believes will transform the way PCs are used more than any other development in this decade did. Virtualisation on x86 platforms will clear the way for a new class of innovations, making the platform more flexible, manageable and secure. Similarly, Intel announced Vanderpool—Intel Virtualisation Technology (IVT)—that will start appearing in the company’s desktop and 64-bit Itanium chips (Montecito) later in 2005 and next year in its Xeon server and mobile processors (Yonah).

Vanderpool is a set of hardware enhancements to client and server platforms that can help improve virtualisation solutions Rajesh Gupta General Manager Technical Support South Asia, Intel

Home and business users alike will benefit from this technology which has the potential to proliferate across the entire x86 market. Virtualisation technology will become increasingly important on the desktop; it is already present in the server environment. The technology will also allow Intel and AMD to create platform innovations without affecting Windows. By 2007, most new PCs and servers will incorporate virtualisation technology.

In May this year, AMD announced that it would ship its Pacifica virtualisation technology—which adds support for hardware virtualisation to its processors—in the first half of 2006. Pacifica brings to the market technology that is designed to enhance 64-bit server virtualisation technologies for x86-based servers, desktops and mobile computers.

So what’s different? The trend towards virtualisation has been prevalent in mainframe and Unix systems for many years, but the x86 architecture is such that it has been cumbersome to bring virtualisation to this platform. Although virtualisation is becoming more popular for servers, it cannot be currently done on x86 hardware without specialised software from third parties; the x86 processor architecture underpins Intel and AMD chips.

The technology is designed to enable users run multiple operating systems and applications in separate partitions on a single processor. Like the general virtualisation software, this will enable customers to create several virtual systems on a single physical system.

Unlike 64-bit enhancements that are almost identical in the AMD and Intel implementations, AMD’s Pacifica is significantly different from IVT in the way it is implemented. Both technologies achieve the same results, but it is not clear where one will have material advantages over the other. At this early stage, both approaches will be sufficient for market needs. Any differences will be handled by a module in the software that interfaces with the hardware virtualisation component.

The upside of virtualisation for servers is well-documented. It allows them to do many jobs simultaneously. It finds several uses in desktops and notebooks for both businesses and consumers. It allows the running of different operating systems on the same box at the same time.

So how does Vanderpool benefit the end-user? Says Rajesh Gupta, General Manager, Technical Support, South Asia, Intel, “Vanderpool is a set of hardware enhancements to client and server platforms that, on appropriately configured systems, can help improve virtualisation solutions such as better corporate client manageability, flexibility for server consolidation, or legacy migration. The technology, combined with the appropriate software, can enable enhanced virtualisation for both enterprise and consumer users.”

Intel vs AMD: next round

Vanderpool is part of a family of enhancements Intel has been adding to its chips to improve overall computing performance or versatility without necessarily increasing power consumption.

AMD says that virtualisation on desktops will come in both AMD Opteron server chips and Athlon 64 processors for desktops and notebooks. AMD is also working on adding more features to its chips to improve computers’ performance or make them more secure. In addition, the company recently announced a partnership with XenSource to port its Xen open-source virtualisation package to AMD’s 64-bit Opteron chips in the first half of this year.

So how are the security aspects addressed in the case of a virtual partition of this kind? Says Gupta, “Software faults and digital attacks are isolated within each virtual partition, and fail-over partitions provide an easy, cost-effective approach to tailoring availability of processors.”

To add to that, a single platform can host multiple test environments and multiple iterations of each software stack. Also, workloads and system maintenance issues are addressed since a virtual partition can be provisioned or re-sized (in minutes) to accommodate new applications.

ISVs take

According to some industry observers, the impact of the chip makers’ offerings will depend on how virtualisation software from ISVs evolves around the CPU-based offerings. Both Intel and AMD maintain that they will continue their partnerships with third-party virtualisation software vendors such as VMware and Microsoft. This puts to rest doubts about third-party virtualisation software vendors going out of business.

SOHO primary target?

With Vanderpool and Pacifica, which verticals are being targeted? While there is no fixed strategy on any particular vertical, from the looks of it, the SOHO market appears to be the primary target. States Gupta: “Within SOHO, for example, administrators will be able to isolate a portion of a managed PC to perform system upgrades and maintenance without interrupting the end-user.”

This translates into better productivity and business gains. Apart from that, IT managers could also create one desktop PC that can function independently as both a business and personal system, keeping software loads and virus attacks separate, or one that runs different operating systems and software.

AMD is also planning enhancements for both its single-core and dual-core processors even further down the road to take advantage of Pacifica.

venkatesh@expresscomputeronline.com