LynxSecure

Embedded Hypervisor and Separation Kernel

With the introduction of the new LynxSecure 3.0 separation kernel and embedded hypervisor, LynuxWorks™ once again raises the bar when it comes to superior embedded software security and safety. This new release adds full virtualization capabilities to allow unmodified guest OSes to run on LynxSecure.

Virtualization of guest operating systems

The built-in embedded hypervisor and virtualization technology allows guest operating systems (and their applications) to run on top of LynxSecure, in effect allowing multiple dissimilar operating systems to share a single physical hardware platform. Virtualization technology allows for significant cost savings through hardware consolidation, while retaining the ability to leverage the ecosystem of applications that belong to different operating system domains into a single system.

To achieve virtualization, LynxSecure uses a hypervisor to create a virtualization layer that maps physical system resources to each guest operating system. Each guest operating system is assigned certain dedicated resources, such as memory, CPU time and I/O peripherals. “Co-operative virtualization” (para-virtualization) provides superior performance for the guest operating systems—such as Linux®, LynxOS®-SE and LynxOS-178. Full virtualization allows unmodified operating systems like Windows® to run next to para-virtualized ones.

100% application binary-compatibility with the non-virtualized instance of the operating system is preserved. LynxSecure isolates each virtual instance by providing hardware protection to every partition with its own virtual addressing space. In addition, it guarantees resource availability, such as memory and processor-execution resources, to each partition, so that no software can fully consume the scheduled memory or time resources of other partitions. LynxSecure supports simultaneous use of system interfaces, including multiple instances of the same or different operating systems in different partitions.