OK:Windows

Windows Mobile – little desktops

For Device OEMs and end-users, Windows Mobile® offers application interoperability and integration with Microsoft Windows® environments on the desktop and in the data center. In the decade since its launch, Microsoft® has made great strides in helping device OEMs design in and deploy Windows Mobile so that today, the platform garners an impressive share of smartphone shipments globally.

Broad deployment and source-level interoperability with Windows desktop platforms has not necessarily made it easier for device OEMs to bring Windows Mobile devices to market. Semiconductor suppliers and device OEMs must still cope with basic board support issues, from accommodating ARM-based chipsets to building device drivers, as well as refactoring and tuning legacy embedded and desktop code to run well on the platform.

OK:Windows Mobile

Open Kernel Labs plans to deliver OK:Windows, which will offer developers the ability to run a Windows Mobile environment within an OKL4 secure cell. In OK:Windows Mobile, OK Labs will supply an OS Support Package for Microsoft Windows Mobile, enabled for use as a guest OS of the OKL4 mobile virtualization platform. OK:Windows will simplify and streamline the process of creating new Windows Mobile phones. OK:Windows Mobile will provide a standard Windows Mobile environment, where existing Windows applications can run without modification, and new applications can be developed using standard Windows Mobile development tools.

Using OK:Windows Mobile to create a virtual machine (VM) with a Windows Mobile guest OS will add to the benefits associated with the use of Windows Mobile in the following ways:

  • Windows Mobile applications will be able to run on the same processor side-by-side with legacy applications and legacy OSes. This concurrent support for multiple operating systems eliminates the need for either multiprocessor hardware or porting the legacy system to the Windows Mobile OS.
  • With Secure HyperCell Technology, OKL4 cells will complement the Windows Mobile VM by providing an execution environment with better real-time properties and stronger security.
  • OKL4 cells are well-suited to hosting real-time OSes, easing implementation of latency-sensitive functions without sacrificing the rich ecosystem support available for Windows Mobile.

Challenges to Deploying Windows Mobile

Windows Mobile is large - Windows Mobile has tens of millions of lines of source code. OKL4 cells will make it easier to meet the security and certification requirements of key applications or subsystems by offering applications a much smaller trusted computing base than is possible for a Windows Mobile environment.

Windows Mobile is open - The complexity and openness of Windows Mobile will increase the risk of security exploits and reliability problems. Using the OKL4 Microvisor, Windows Mobile and its applications can run in isolation from other software subsystems, making it easier to offer higher levels of security and reliability to those subsystems without having to provide a dedicated hardware execution environment.

High stakes – device drivers

Device drivers represent a wildcard in mobile designs – difficult to develop, they can be harder to maintain and migrate forward. Drivers can also present openings for security exploits. OKL4 makes drivers a safer bet by:

  • Offering an innovative device-driver approach with high-performance, sharable, isolated, user-level device drivers for improved reliability and security.
  • Running device drivers at user level and limiting privileged code to the OKL4 Microvisor.
  • Supporting device drivers running in any guest OS.

The OKL4 Microvisor enables systems that are easier to develop, easier to maintain, more secure, and more reliable. The OKL4 building block approach combines, connects, and manages VMs, native OKL4 subsystems, and device drivers. OK:Windows Mobile will add ready-to-use Windows Mobile VMs to the standard set of building blocks available to developers.

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