Embedded systems directory and blog

Virtio Debuts Latest Software Emulator for Intel PXA250 Board

6/23/2003 - Virtio Corporation, the creator of virtual platforms for embedded software development, announced the introduction of its VPXS 2.0 Virtual Platform, the latest revision of its fast, full-function software emulation for the Intel® PXA250 Applications Processor development board based on the Intel® XScale^TM microarchitecture and VPXS-WM 2.0 Virtual Platform that includes the Intel® Wireless MMX^TM technology. This latest revision of the VPXS and VPXS-WM Virtual Platforms incorporates significant product enhancements to deliver improved run and boot time performance; better execution control and visibility into the CPU and peripheral components; integrated emulation of physical serial COM port connections and support of larger scripting commands; graphical editing of components and improved support for software debugger and tool integration.

Larry Melling, vice president of marketing for Virtio noted, “The needs of embedded software developers are constantly evolving with each new application challenge they face. As the premier provider of software emulation environments in the form of virtual platforms, Virtio's goal is to continually improve the performance and features included in these platforms to ensure that we can best address these changing needs.”

“To that end, Virtio VPXS 2.0 and VPXS-WM 2.0 feature improvements including the speed of the instruction-set simulators and the virtual platforms themselves; the addition of a new remote debugger software debugger interface; integrated virtual serial port support and a new and improved underlying simulation infrastructure,” continued Melling. “All of these improvements increase the overall quality and performance of our software emulation environment to provide a robust, comprehensive software development environment that boosts developer productivity.”

Virtio's Instruction-Set Simulator (ISS) offers the fastest performance available to the industry with instruction accurate technology. The company's Virtual Runtime Environment (VRE) provides plug-ins of optimized C/C++ models. As a result, with VPXS 2.0 and VPXS-WM 2.0, running Symbian OS^TM version 6.1, Virtio delivers a 14 second boot time (on a 2.5 GHz P4).

Melling explained, “The combination of this performance along with the completeness of our emulation provides developers with a better environment for developing software for Intel® XScale^TM microarchitecture platforms. With Virtio's technology, developers of embedded software can recover over 3.5 years of integration time for a typical 10 developer, 12 month project returning over half a million dollars of developer time to the project for a $30,000 investment in Virtio products.”

Virtio VPXS 2.0 and VPXS-WM 2.0
Virtio VPXS 2.0 and VPXS-WM 2.0 Virtual Platforms incorporate the following product enhancements:

• Speed Improvements - Both the Intel® XScale^TM instruction-set simulator and the virtual platform itself feature speed improvements as a result of ISS optimization, Virtio's new binary translation ISS technology and the new Virtio Runtime Environment (VRE) infrastructure optimizations. This results in a 2x performance increase over the original VPXS 1.0 product that was released in 2002.
• Remote Debugger Interface (RDI) software debugger interface - Through this interface, RDI-compliant software debuggers can be attached to the VPXS and VPXS-WM Virtual Platforms allowing low-level execution control and visibility into the CPU and the peripheral components. For example, Metrowerks CodeWarrior^TM for ARM and ARM AXD debugger can be connected using this interface.
• Integrated Virtual Serial Port (VSP) Support - The separate VSP support available in Virtio's VXPS 1.x versions is now completely integrated with the virtual platform making the installation and use model easier to use with more functionality. VSP emulates a physical serial COM port as a Windows software module and allows the platform to be connected to a serial port, without using cables, and works with tools and applications requiring a physical serial connection such as Microsoft® ActiveSync® and Palm HotSync®.
• New and improved underlying simulation infrastructure (VRE2)- Virtio's proprietary Virtual Runtime Environment (VRE) now supports a larger set of scripting commands, allows for graphical editing of VRE components as specified in C/C++ and provides enhanced support for software debugger and tool integration.

Pricing and Availability
Virtio's VPXS 2.0 and VPXS-WM 2.0 Virtual Platforms are priced at $1,990.00 each, U.S. list price; the VPXS and VPXS-WM 2.0 Platform Development Kit (PDK) which offers the same functionality as the virtual platform but adds the ability to customize the platform by using components from the library of components provided or creating new functions by using the authoring tools included in the PDK, is priced at $9,990, U.S. list price. Both products are available now. Term license subscribers of VPXS or VPXS-WM 1.x product can upgrade to VPXS 2.0 and VPXS-WM 2.0 for the remainder of the subscription term for no additional fee. 30-day evaluation copies are available on both the Virtio (http://www.virtio.com/products/virtualPlatforms) and Intel PCA Developer Network (www.intel.com/pca/developernetwork) websites.

About Virtio
Virtio powers dramatic gains in software development by delivering early access to fast, full-function software emulation of embedded devices. Virtio is based in Campbell, California in the U.S.A with development centers at Campbell and the Alba Centre, Livingston, Scotland. Additional information about Virtio is available at www.virtio.com.

Virtio is a trademark of Virtio Corp.

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