<div class='slidealt'>Virtualization research projects <a title='ARM multicore kvm open source' href='/en/research'>in cloud and embedded systems</a></div> <div class='slidealt'>Virtualization solutions for heterogeneous <a title='ARMv7-ARMv8 virtualization open source solutions' href='/en/solutions'>ARM multicore systems</a></div> <div class='slidealt'>Benefit from custom <a title='kvm on arm services full virtualization' href='/en/services'>virtualization services</a></div> <div class='slidealt'>Experience kvm <a title='virtualization for embedded heterogeneous arm core platforms' href='/en/products'>virtualization extensions</a></div> <div class='slidealt'>KVM on ARMv7 and ARMv8 <a title='kvm-on-arm open source smu extensions' href='/en/solutions/guides/vfio-on-arm/'>IOMMU full virtualization</a></div>

Open source edge in embedded systems virtualization

virtualization open source solutions

Virtual Open Systems offers virtualization solutions and products which are open source. In other words, not only they are royalty free but they are meant for a drastic reduction of the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). For such reason, we can estimate that adopting virtualization full open source solutions, companies can benefit up to 50% of total cost savings and up to 40% faster time to market. Virtual Open Systems' Open Source Integration Solution provides a pre-built, pre-validated Linux for ARM based platforms including a customized set of Virtual Open Systems solutions and virtualization extensions.

Using a pre-integrated open source solution companies can accelerate the software development and integration thus reducing the costs while keeping the right performance and scalability. Maintenance and migration to new generation platforms benefit also from open source technology, avoiding unforeseeable huge costs in situations in which the customer is locked-in by a commercial solution.

Virtualization open source solutions accelerate innovation at lower cost

The Open Source Software (OSS) is a computer software which is made available with its source code usually under an Open Source license where the copyright holder provides to its users the right to study, modify and distribute it freely to anyone and for any purpose (source Wikipedia). As such open source software brings key advantages also in the virtualization domain:

  • Open Access: Anyone can access the software sources and make changes to it as necessary. This continuously improves the software functionality and fixes many problems. Additionally, the concept of "Black Boxes" is impossible in Open Source projects, as the users can always see the software source code and understand how it works.
  • Lower Cost: Open Source Software is much cheaper as compared to the proprietary solutions, which require heavy licensing fees. Moreover, the concept of per workstation or per user licensing does not exist in Open Source Software products.
  • Vendor Lock-free: No one owns the Open Source Software and anyone can build upon it. Usually, Open Source projects are developed and maintained by many different companies at the same time. This removes the entry and exit barriers giving end users the choice to select a vendor which best fits their needs.
  • Fully Customizable: With open access rights, users can modify the Open Source Software to make it suitable for their particular purpose. Additionally, the Open Source Software can be ported to new hardware platforms as they become available, thus extending its lifetime and diversity.
  • Redistribution Rights: Everyone has the right to redistribute the Open Source Software freely or even at a price. This feature can also be seen as an obligation, as the Open Source Software is usually distributed in source form. For binary distributions, the software sources are made available on publicly accessible servers.
  • Security, Stability and Reliability: Open Source Software is much more secure and stable as compared to proprietary solutions, thanks to the extensive review process undertaken by experienced Open Source community members. This leads to many bug fixes and software stability as well as reliability is ensured by introducing only valid changes into the software projects.
  • Long term Maintenance: Open Source Software is freely maintained by Open Source community and its users. As the popularity of a software project increases, so is the number of users maintaining it, thus extending its lifetime.