Enea Readies Asymmetric Multiprocessing RTOS Solution for Multi-Core CPUs; Will Provide Real-Time Alternative to SMP with Enhanced Load Balancing for Distributed Systems.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Enea Embedded Technology today announced plans to offer an enhanced Asymmetric Multiprocessing (AMP) solution with integrated load balancing for its OSE real-time operating system. Slated for later this year, OSE AMP will provide a real-time alternative to traditional SMP solutions for multi-core and other multiprocessor systems. Enea will initially offer its AMP solution for new multi-core devices such as Freescale's 8641D and Broadcom's BCM 12xx and 14xx processors.

"SMP was originally developed as a way of using multiple processors to accelerate individual applications," said Michael Christofferson, director of product marketing at Enea. "With the advent of multi-core CPU devices, OEMs are looking to utilize SMP's load balancing capabilities to boost overall performance in large, multi-channel, multi-application systems. The problem is that SMP is not well suited for many applications that require predictable, real-time response, does not scale well in larger systems, and lacks fault tolerant features."

"The good news for telecom OEMs," added Christofferson, "is that you don't need SMP to get load balancing. Our AMP solution will give designers an easy way to deploy flexible distributed multiprocessor solutions with integrated load balancing without compromising real-time response and control. Unlike SMP systems, where the OS distributes tasks automatically to CPUs without regard to the application's real-time requirements, our AMP solution will give developers complete control over how tasks are distributed. This will enable OSE developers to create balanced multiprocessor solutions that deliver predictable real-time response."

Enea's AMP solution will build on OSE's Link Handler technology, a message-passing framework for interprocess communications that enables applications running on multiple processors to interact as if they were running on a single processor. This framework, together with innovative load balancing technology, will ensure optimal distribution of processes across multiple processors. At the same time, real-time scheduling and interrupt processing facilities will ensure that critical tasks have timely access to needed CPU and memory resources.

Unlike SMP, which utilizes a single operating system and homogenous processing network, OSE's AMP framework will support heterogeneous systems utilizing multiple operating systems and processors, each optimized for specific tasks. With OSE, designers will be able to configure their system with a broad range of CPUs, DSPs, and hybrid controllers. They will also be able to combine OSE with other operating systems such as Linux.

Enea's OSE Orchestra was a first step in this direction, creating a seamless Linux/OSE platform that uses Linux to run high-level telecom, datacom, and management applications, and OSE to handle hard real-time processing like control, fault notification, hot swap, and dynamic discovery.

OSE AMP will extend and enhance the Enea Orchestra framework, supporting a broader range of operating systems. OSE AMP will also utilize load balancing technology that enables applications to be reassigned to processing nodes while the system is running, thereby optimizing use of available processing resources. Conventional RTOSes cannot do this because the RTOS and its applications must be compiled and linked as a single program. As a result, individual applications cannot be dynamically moved to new processors while the system is running.

The key to OSE's flexibility is its support for dynamic load modules. In OSE, the RTOS and its applications are compiled separately and implemented as separate programs. Because the applications are not bound to particular OSE nodes, they may be reassigned to other OSE nodes while the system runs. This flexibility, coupled with innovative load balancing technology, will enable OSE to deliver the flexibility of an SMP system with the real-time responsiveness of a traditional distributed RTOS implementation.

More on OSE

OSE is a memory-protected RTOS optimized for high-availability, high-reliability distributed communications systems. Utilizing the host processor's hardware memory management facilities, OSE provides a firewall that enhances reliability and availability by preventing kernel and application processes from corrupting each other. Enea also offers a DSP-optimized version of OSE known as OSEck (OSE Compact Kernel). OSEck is fully pre-emptive, occupies less than 4 kbytes of memory (in a minimal configuration), and is fully event driven. OSE and OSEck share the same API and message-passing framework.

Development support for OSE and OSEck includes Soft Kernel, a simulator that enables designers to develop OSE-based applications on Linux, Windows, or Solaris host operating systems in advance of hardware availability. It also includes Illuminator, a system-level analysis and profiling tool that enables programmers to monitor, control and collect data for applications viewed as a sequence of events (such as context switches and message passing between processes). OSE also features a complete networking solution that includes TCP/IP and other networking/security protocols, as well as dynamic download, which enhances flexibility by enabling new applications to be downloaded to systems as they operate in the field.

More about Enea Embedded Technology

Enea Embedded Technology is a leading provider of real-time operating systems, development tools and services for fault-tolerant, high-availability and safety-critical applications. Enea's OSE real-time operating system is used in millions of products worldwide, including communications infrastructure, mobile phones, avionics systems, medical devices, automobiles, and industrial control systems.

Enea Embedded Technology is a subsidiary of Enea AB (SAXESS: ENEA), based in Stockholm, Sweden. Employing about 500 people worldwide, Enea provides products, services, and training for a variety of real-time embedded applications. Customers include industry leaders such as Ericsson, Nokia, Boeing, Motorola, Alcatel, Volvo, TI, Agere Systems and Fujitsu. For more information on Enea Embedded Technology, please visit www.ose.com. For more information on Enea AB please visit www.enea.com.

Enea is listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange's Attract-40 list.

OSE is a registered trademark of Enea Embedded Technology. All other company or product names are the registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective owners.

This press release is available at www.ose.com/press