Open Kernel Labs (OK Labs) has announced support for the newly introduced Kingfisher processor from ARM. The OKL4 Microvisor is immediately available for the Kingfisher simulator and will support Kingfisher processors as they roll out from ARM Ltd and ARM licensees.

Together, OKL4 and Kingfisher target mobile/wireless devices, including smartphones, "super phones" and tablets, as well as servers/blades and other form factors and applications for them. To support Kingfisher, OK Labs is applying the native capabilities of the OKL4 Microvisor to meet the always on, always connected requirements presented by these varied devices and applications.

OK Labs mobile ecosystem partners and customers can build on OKL4 Microvisor capabilities to reap the greatest benefit from Kingfisher. In particular, the ARM Big.LITTLE architecture uses the Cortex-A15 MPCore "hypervisor mode" to switch between "Big" (A15) and "LITTLE" (Kingfisher) operations. Supporting ARM Big.LITTLE processors is a natural fit for OKL4, complementing OKL4 applications for ARM CPUs already in deployment, including highly secure systems, enterprise mobility, "dual persona" operation, processor consolidation, and multicore management.

"OK Labs OKL4 Microvisor helps device manufacturers realize the potential of the Cortex-A7 MPCore processor's virtualization extensions," noted Richard Phelan, Senior Strategic S/W Partner Manager, ARM Ltd. "The Cortex-A7 processor and OKL4 boast scalable performance and together help enable low power operation and the single- and multicore Big.LITTLE processing paradigm."

"OK Labs works closely with ARM to serve the global ecosystem of chipset suppliers, OEMs and operators," commented Steve Subar, President and CEO, OK Labs. "As new ARM silicon makes its way into systems-on-a-chip -- in mobile devices, in automotive, and also on the desktop and in the data center -- the OKL4 Microvisor is ready to support it, and to power the next billion always-on, always-connected devices."

Availability As a result of the company's relationship with ARM, the OK Labs Microvisor runs TODAY on the Kingfisher simulator and will be ready-to-deploy on first silicon from ARM licensees. The partnership between ARM and OK Labs enables early access for OEMs, operators and other developers to design with and deploy mobile virtualization for ARM Kingfisher SoCs, as it has for ARM Cortex-A15 MPCore, ARM11 multicore symmetric multi-processing (SMP), Cortex-A8, and Cortex-A9 processors.