NXP (Freescale) Hypervisor
Introduction to the NXP Hypervisor
The NXP (formerly Freescale) hypervisor is a special low-level software program that facilitates secure partitioning. It acts as a partition’s resource and security manager, presenting a virtual machine to the operating system running in each partition.
The hypervisor may manage multiple virtual machines and partitions, from a single thread on a core to multiple threads and multiple cores. X-ES provides a modified, lightweight version of the NXP hypervisor that supports partitioning and isolation.
Click on the diagram image to the right to view an enlarged version.
![](/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/hypervisor-diagram-ethernet.png)
![](/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/hypervisor-diagram-serial.png)
The Case for Partitioning
Systems that traditionally use multiple processing boards to isolate applications can be consolidated into a single, multi-core board by using partitioning to allow each partition to run its application separately and securely.
For example, systems that employ Linux as the control plane and a Real-Time Operating System (RTOS) as the data plane can benefit from this hybrid OS approach by being consolidated into a single slot.
In secure environments, partitioning provides a means to safely and effectively protect sensitive tasks from data intrusion.
Flexible Ethernet routing through the Linux Partition Manager allow for Ethernet ports to be dedicated to each host through a MAC-less interface or switched from multiple guest OSes to a single port. For serial, each guest can be multiplexed onto a single serial line for complete access.
Mouse over the image to the left to switch between Ethernet and serial configurations.
Cost-Effective Open Source Software
X-ES is an active contributor to NXP’s open-source hypervisor software, available free of charge and supported by X-ES for a nominal fee.
MAC-less Interface From Guest OSes
NXP’s MAC-less interface natively achieves Gigabit Ethernet line-rate performance for Linux guest operating systems. Extended support from X-ES for the MAC-less interface to Wind River’s VxWorks RTOS also realizes line-rate performance.
32-bit Memory Limitation Liberated
For 32-bit operating systems, partitioning enables the use of more memory past the 4 GB (32-bit) boundary natively supported by operating system. For 64-bit operating systems, the full physical 40-bit addressing is supported.
Lightweight, Performance-Oriented Functionality
The NXP (formerly Freescale) embedded hypervisor software is unlike traditional hypervisors that provide scheduling services to enable multiple operating systems to run simultaneously on a single physical CPU.
Instead, the NXP hypervisor provides a simple and lightweight method that exclusively addresses the problem of partitioning and isolation without being bloated by unnecessary features and functionality.
Featured NXP T-Series Products
That Support The Hypervisor
![XCalibur1931 6U VME SBC](https://www.xes-inc.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/xcalibur1931-photo.png)
XCalibur1931
6U VME SBC with an NXP QorIQ T2080 processor with four dual-threaded e6500 cores, each with a 128-bit AltiVec SIMD unit
View XCalibur1931![XPedite5970 3U VPX SBC](https://www.xes-inc.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/xpedite5970-photo.png)
XPedite5970
3U OpenVPX™ REDI SBC featuring an eight core NXP T2080 processor with up to 8 GB of DDR3-1600 SDRAM
View XPedite5970![XPedite6101 XMC/PrPMC Mezzanine Module](https://www.xes-inc.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/xpedite6101-photo.png)
XPedite6101
XMC/PrPMC mezzanine module with an NXP T2081 processor with eight virtual (four dual-threaded) e6500 cores
View XPedite6101![XCalibur1840 6U VPX SBC](https://www.xes-inc.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/xcalibur1840-photo.png)
XCalibur1840
6U VPX SBC with an NXP T4240 processor & 12 dual-threaded Power Architecture® e6500 cores running at up to 1.8 GHz
View XCalibur1840