User:Henriok/System p AVE

System p AVE, or Application Virtual Environment, is a binary translation layer for IBM's System p computers. It enables 32-bit x86 Linux binaries to run unmodified on the Power Architecture based hardware. IBM is relying on this feature to migrate x86 Linux servers to virtualized environments on their high end System p server line.

In contrast to regular emulators, only the instructions are translated, not the entire system, thus making them fast and flexible. The operating system senses that it is executing x86 code and translates it to PowerPC code at execution, and these instructions are later cached ensuring that the translation process only has to take place once, further reducing the drop in performance usulay associated with emulation. The only code that can't me translated is code that access hardware directly, like those that thake use of SSE instructions, and kernel modules.

System p AVE is based on the QuickTransit dynamic translator from Transitive, the same that Apple uses for its Rosetta emulation layer that enables Mac OS X to run unmodified PowerPC binaries on their Intel-based Macintoshes.

Systme p AVE is currently (April 2007) in beta and is scheduled to be finished the second half of 2007. It is first deployed on IBM's PowerPC 970 based JS20/JS21 blade center hardware, but they plan to bring it to their more powerful POWER5 hardware as well.