AMD kondigt update van I/O virtualisatietechnologie aan (Engels)

dinsdag 15 mei 2007

AMD ANNOUNCES UPDATE TO ITS I/O VIRTUALIZATION TECHNOLOGY SPECIFICATION

Enhancements further reduce bottlenecks for data-intensive applications in
virtualized and non-virtualized environments

Sunnyvale, California - May 15, 2007- AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced broad
availability of the latest version of its I/O virtualization technology
specification, which is enhanced with stronger and more secure input/output
connections. Together with AMD Virtualization Technology (AMD-V), the AMD
I/O Virtualization Technology Specification revision 1.2 is designed to
provide high throughput and scalability to improve overall system
efficiency, reliability and security.

This latest specification extends the benefits of AMD's I/O Memory
Management Unit (IOMMU) to provide a secure, scalable, high-performance
solution for I/O virtualization in x86-based servers, desktops, and notebook
computers. IOMMU technology also improves reliability in non-virtualized
environments and is expected to be a necessary component for secure systems
of the future. 

Demonstrating AMD's ongoing commitment to collaborative innovation, IOMMU
revision 1.2 was developed in close cooperation with hardware and software
ecosystem partners who worked as a collective whole to advance the benefits
of AMD's Direct Connect Architecture. "The IOMMU 1.2 spec is a breakthrough
development in furthering our ability to deliver on the promise of
virtualization," said Joe Menard, corporate vice president for AMD. "As
multi-core processors become critical for consumer and enterprise
applications, IOMMU will provide an essential platform for virtual machines
to manage I/O devices in a secure and efficient manner."

AMD was the first company to develop an open specification between devices
and announced broad availability of its I/O virtualization technology in
February 2006. AMD also responded to the needs of its partners by advancing
the initial technology to support the PCI-SIG IOV standards. "Our customers
and partners directly benefit by Microsoft's close collaboration with
industry partners like AMD to develop specifications focused on driving
improved performance and reliability for servers and clients alike," said
Mike Neil, general manager of virtualization strategy at Microsoft Corp.
"Microsoft is working closely with AMD to help open the way for a new class
of innovation to better manage and utilize devices across the Windows
platform. AMD's Virtualization Technology with AMD I/O Virtualization
Technology provides the foundation we need to build our future
virtualization platforms."                       
IOMMU revision 1.2 offers the following enhancements designed to handle the
systems from complex datacenters to mobile laptops:
• Enhanced security and system reliability – adds precise device access
control to protect against malicious or errant device DMA;
• Enhanced virtualization capabilities – improves performance and
scalability by enabling direct device access by applications reducing
overhead in guest and device paths;
• Open Standards - designed to conform to PCI-SIG IOV and ATS standards;
• Interrupt remapping – enables central management of interrupts in a
virtualized system;
• ACPI tables – provides information from platform firmware to system
software of key I/O topology information;  
• Enhanced error recovery – provides information for efficient detection and
recovery from page faults and errors.

The IOMMU 1.2 specification is designed to be used by hypervisors and
operating systems in both virtualized and non-virtualized environments, and
is useful for server consolidation, protecting operating system integrity,
and secure initialization. As part of its ongoing efforts to actively
collaborate with hardware and software developers, AMD's I/O specification
is also an aspect of AMD's "Torrenza" initiative to co-develop accelerated
computing processes.  IOMMU 1.2 is the basis for AMD's Tightly Coupled
Accelerators, which will allow third-party chipsets to perform specific
functions while off-loading general computing functions managed efficiently
by the AMD Opteron processor.  Through collaboration with partners such as
Broadcom, HP, Microsoft and NVIDIA, IOMMU 1.2 highlights AMD's strong
commitment to open partner development.

posted by Ward @ 17:02