Intel® Virtualization Technology

This significant statement by Pat Gelsinger, senior vice president and general manager of Intel's Digital Enterprise Group, kicked off his keynote speech at the March, 2005 IDF (Intel Developer Forum) .

Intel has vowed to bring it's higher end platform features such as greater management capabilities through it's "embedded IT architecture" and virtualization (formerly known as Vanderpool for desktop and Silvervale for server, into it's full line of processors, from their top of the line XEON and Itanium processors, down to their budget desktop chips. On November 14th, Intel continued to work towards that goal with the introduction of virtualization technology into their desktop PC processor line.

Virtualization Technology... What is it?

Virtualization Technology, in it's simplest form allows a computer to be partitioned so that it can run several types of software, applications, or even entire operating systems simultaneously in their own virtual space or "container". While Virtualization has been popular at the software level in the server market for several years now, (VMware first introduced their x86 virtualization product in February of 1999), the reality of bringing it to the hardware level and the desktop of everyday home users is an entirely new proposition. Microsoft has already incorporated the ability to use this technology into it's Enterprise edition of it's next Windows O/S, Vista, which will hopefully be saving us all many headaches down the road.

By using this model, each set of applications are protected from the next. In the event of a crash or other conflict the remaining processes continue running, oblivious to the catastrophe that could have been if the applications been running intertwined in the same space.

Virtualization will allow users to accomplish tasks such as browsing the web in a completely safe environment. By using a totally isolated browser window in which to net-surf, the act of closing the window would eliminate any trace of spyware, ad-ware, or malicious scripting which was picked up during the session. Virtual sessions could also allow IT departments to run PC backup, recovery, and update security software in the background while a user continues to perform his daily tasks uninterrupted.

Intel actually has different plans for users of VT based on the platform that you will be using. For server users, Intel Virtualization Technology makes system software called virtual machine monitor more robust and resilient. For desktop and laptop users, Intel Virtualization Technology enables a new deployment model, called appliances, to be run in isolated virtual machines.

Intel Virtualization Technology is part of a larger collection of premier Intel designed and manufactured silicon technologies that deliver improved computing benefits to home and business users, and IT Managers. These technologies called T's (or *T) are already being implemented into your daily computing experience. The idea behind these technologies is that the computing experience can be enhanced significantly by introducing technology to help organize and protect your computing environment. Intel's efforts to focus their development in this direction, instead of simply trying to chase Moore's Law, are much wiser and will work out much better in the long run than simply trying to increase the speed of their processor platform.

Other T's Technologies include:

* Hyper-Threading Technology
* Vanderpool Technologies (Intel's codename for VT)
* Intel® Extended Memory 64 Technology
* Intel® Active Management Technology
* LaGrande Technology (Intel codename)

Intel Virtualization Technology Enabled Processors

Even though the Pentium 4 processor 662 @ 3.6GHz. and the Pentium 4 processor 672 @ 3.8GHz.have been introduced, and are readily available, it will require more time for them to filter down through the distribution channel. System builders can expect to be shipping systems containing the new technology early in 2006. Intel is looking at a timeframe of around 2007 or 2008 before the technology is considered "mainstream". This time frame gives Microsoft, and any other developer, plenty of time to tweak their software to take full advantage of the technology and benefits of virtualization technology if they so desire

One of the speculations as to why Intel chose to release this new technology for the desktop in it's single core processors first was that some of their larger corporate and government clients are standardized on the single core processors and they wanted to give them the opportunity to work with Virtualization Technology without having to change their system configurations. Dual-core Pentium D processors based on the Presler core should be rolling out in Q1, 2005 and will probably be the main processors that early-adopters will be using while bringing VT to the desktop.

Intel has also already introduced VT into their XEON "Paxville" chips and plans to update Itanium server chips and their Pentium M notebooks within the 2006 calendar year. About the only Intel chips that don't look to be getting the VT benefit (at least at this time), are the XScale chip family members. Originally slated to coincide with the launch of Microsoft's "Vista" O/S, the entire process of bringing VT to the desktop has been accelerated from within Intel due to a wealth of positive feedback in it's initial testing phases

Components of Virtualization Technology

In order to use the Intel Virtualization Technology enabled processors, you will require a few key components.

A VT Enabled Processor
Choose one of the many upcoming and already released models from Intel
A VT Enabled Chipset
Desktop chipsets such as the 945 and 955
A BIOS which supports VT
Recent BIOS updates have a VT Enable/Disable option
VT Enabled Software
VMware, Xen, Microsoft Vista, Virtual Server, Virtual PC

A computer system with an enabled Intel® processor, a VT enabled motherboard BIOS, a virtual machine monitor (VMM) and for some uses, certain platform software enabled for it. Functionality, performance, or other benefits will vary depending on hardware and software configurations. Intel Virtualization Technology-enabled BIOS and VMM applications are currently in development.

Benefits of Virtualization Technology

In addition to the basic security enhancements provided by using Virtualization Technology, there are benefits, both in the desktop and server platforms, that will assure the success of this feature.

Desktop Advantages:

* Legacy Software Support (consolidation)
* Training / QA (consolidation)
* Activity Partitioning (isolation)
* Manageability (isolation, migration, embedding)

Server Advantages:

* Server Consolidation (consolidation)
* Failover Infrastructure (migration)
* Flexible Datacenter (migration)
* Manageability (isolation, migration, embedding)

Who's Invested in Virtualization Technology?

Microsoft, VMware, and XenSource are three companies closely watching the development of the mainstream VT market. Along with many others, these companies have long been working to bring secure computing to the mass market through their powerful Virtual Machine software. Prior to the introduction of the new VT chips from Intel and the upcoming "Pacifica" chips from AMD, the software had to perform the majority of the instruction set virtualization that is now handled at a hardware level.

Microsoft saw the benefits of virtualization technology and recognized that it would become a very important factor in the future of computing. This caused them to acquire Connectix Corporation who had originally written Virtual PC and Virtual Server for both the x86 platform and the Macintosh platform. Along with continuing new revisions of this software, the incorporation of the technology into their Vista Operating System shows the confidence that Microsoft has in it's future.

Final Thought on Virtualization Technology

To say that Virtualization Technology is going to be a big change in the way our computers work in our daily lives is probably a pretty big understatement. This technology has the ability to reduce or eliminate downtime due to malicious code, protect our valuable data, allow better usage of available computing resources, and reduce the amount of computers needed in any given location to do any number of specific tasks. Servers can be consolidated down from several machines running several operating systems, down to 1 machine running them all. Home PC's can be reduced down so you don't need a desktop machine, and a gaming machine, and a "Media Center" machine, since all tasks can be handled simultaneously within their own isolated environments.