| Mot invests in virtualization for phones |
Apr. 21, 2008
Handset maker Motorola has taken an equity investment in VirtualLogix, a vendor of virtualization technology for handsets and telecom infrastructure equipment. The move could help Motorola lower the cost of handsets running Windows Mobile, while helping operators maintain security, consolidate infrastructure and expand dynamic service offerings.
The deal was arranged through Motorola's strategic venture capital arm, Motorola Ventures. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Previous VirtualLogix investors include Atlas Ventures, Cisco Systems, DFJ Esprit, Index Ventures, Intel Capital, and Texas Instruments.
VirtualLogix's VLX technology has been described as a "real-time" version of familiar desktop virtualization technologies like VMware, Xen, and others. The company was founded in mid-2002 by former members of Chorus Systems, a company acquired by Sun in 1997 for its ChorusOS real-time embedded operating system for telecom. VirtualLogix's flagship VLX product comprises a small scheduler that, once configured, lets guest OSes access physical hardware subsystems directly, rather than through the emulated hardware devices used by many desktop and server virtualization technologies.
VirtualLogix earlier this month updated the Intel Architecture (IA) version of its VLX-NI (network infrastructure), adding support for Windows as a guest OS. Version 3.0 of VLX also taps into Intel's VT-d (virtualization technology for directed I/O), which aims to improve performance by letting guest OSes talk directly to real hardware, rather than to emulated hardware devices.
Purple Magic design
(Click for details) |
Meanwhile, a a "Mobile Handset" version of its flagship VLX virtualization stack in Sept. of 2006. VLX-MH was subsequently used by Linux stack integrator Purple Labs in a hardware software reference design touted as the first 3G phone costing operators less than $100. The Purple Magic design used NXP's 7210 hardware platform, featuring a single processor core.
Today, with the exception of the Purple Magic (which appears not to be widely distributed so far) and the Toshiba W47T handset based on similar virtualization software from Open Kernel Labs, all "smart" phones that run a complex OS like Linux, Windows, or Symbian do so on a dual-processor or at least a dual-core architecture. One processor core runs the complex OS -- think of it as the "control plane" -- while another runs a real-time OS (VRTX, in the case of Motorola phones) that handles "data plane" processing such as the software-defined radio stack and voice signal transcoding.
Splitting control and data processing onto separate cores is a time-honored tradition in networking equipment of all kinds. However, in mobile devices, there's a cost in terms of power efficiency and physical footprint, because each core typically needs its own memory, storage, and other supporting circuitry. Thanks to VLX, manufacturers such as Motorola could use a single processor, extending battery life and saving on parts cost while maintaining security and quality-of-service, says VirtualLogix.
Motorola's MOTO Q 9c
(Click image for further information) |
Even with traditional design techniques, Motorola has become a price leader in the Windows Mobile handset market. Last month, Alltel, Sprint, U.S. Cellular, and Verizon all announced versions of the MOTO Q 9c (right), each carrier selling it for around $100, after rebates.
Peter Richards, CEO of VirtualLogix, said, "As virtualization moves out from the datacenter and into everyday front-end connected devices, our connected world will require the delivery of efficient, secure and customizable user experiences."
Reese Schroeder, Motorola Ventures managing director, stated, "Demand for simplified product designs that allow dynamic mobile experiences to run across multiple platforms will intensify. Our investment in VirtualLogix will help accelerate the delivery of their technology to next-generation communications devices and infrastructure equipment."
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