Russian team develops x86 emulator on ARM

Russian team develops x86 emulator on ARM

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Russian engineers are developing software to run x86 programs on ARM-based servers. If successful, the software could help lower one of the biggest barriers ARM SoC makers face getting their chips adopted as alternatives to Intel x86 processors that dominate today’s server market.

Elbrus Technologies has developed emulation software that delivers 40 percent of current x86 performance. The company believes it could reach 80 percent native x86 performance or greater by the end of 2014. Analysts and ARM execs described the code as a significant, but limited option.

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A growing list of companies--including Applied Micro, Calxeda, Cavium, Marvell, Nvidia and Samsung—aim to replace Intel CPUs with ARM SoCs that pack more functions and consume less power. One of their biggest hurdles is their chips do not support the wealth of server software that runs on the x86.

The Elbrus emulation code could help lower that barrier. The team will present a paper on its work at the ARM TechCon in Santa Clara, Calif., Oct. 30-Nov. 1.

The team’s software uses 1 Mbyte of memory. “What is more exciting is the fact that the memory footprint will have weak dependence on the number of applications that are being run in emulation mode,” Anatoly Konukhov, a member of the Elbrus team, said in an e-mail exchange.

The team has developed a binary translator that acts as an emulator, and plans to create an optimization process for it.

“Currently, we are creating a binary translator which allows us to run applications,” Konukhov said. “Implementation of an optimization process will start in parallel later this year--we're expecting both parts be ready in the end of 2014."

“The major concern for us is lack of software developers with binary translation expertise,” he added. “This is also the reason for us to estimate project release in late 2014."

The Elbrus software uses a parallel compilation process and stores translations in volatile memory to decrease overhead when starting up. The binary translator will have “several levels of optimization for ‘cold’ and ‘hot’ regions of code,” said Konukhov.

Work on the software started in 2010. Last summer, Elbrus got $1.3 million in funding from the Russian investment fund Skolkovo and MCST, a veteran Russian processor and software developer. MCST also is providing developers for the Elbrus project.


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Next: A limited, but significant option
TAG:X86 On ARM ARM Servers Elbrus Technologies Binary Translator Emulator Emulation ARM Servers X86 Intel Processors