TenAsys
 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Embedded and Real-time Software |
| Headquarters | Beaverton, Oregon |
| Products | iRMX, INtime, and eVM |
| Website | www.tenasys.com |
 | This article contains promotional content. (April 2009) |
TenAsys is a privately owned company providing real-time software and services based on the x86 Intel Architecture and Microsoft Windows operating system. The company was founded in 2000 as a spin-off of RadiSys Corporation based on the iRMX and INtime for Windows technology originally developed at Intel Corporation.
Products
TenAsys is dedicated to providing real-time operating system (RTOS) products that reduce the cost of computer-based automation and control systems by adopting cost-effective PC hardware and Windows software. Our products help developers take advantage of the benefits of Windows — standard APIs, networking capabilities, user interface, and development tools — without having to give up a proven, reliable, RTOS to handle time-deterministic critical needs.
iRMX for Windows
iRMX for Windows provides legacy support for existing applications based on the iRMX III real-time operating system and the iRMX for Windows RTOS produced by Intel beginning in 1992. iRMX for Windows provides a convenient migration path for legacy real-time iRMX applications to move to modern Windows technology and hardware platforms without losing real-time determinism.
The iRMX for Windows RTOS loads and runs on a standard Windows system. Upon initialization, it sets up a separate execution environment, takes over the CPU, and encapsulates Windows as the lowest priority iRMX task. The iRMX operating system scheduler determines which tasks will run; insuring that the highest priority task that is ready is always the running task. Whenever a real-time task is ready to run, it preempts Windows, handles all the associated real-time activities, and only resumes Windows (the lowest priority iRMX task) after all real-time activities have completed.
INtime RTOS for Windows
Like iRMX for Windows, the INtime RTOS also installs on a standard Windows system. Once installed, INtime provides a deterministic, real-time platform for running hard real-time applications that run alongside Windows. the INtime RTOS runs as a separate, independent kernel outside of the Windows kernel. The Windows OS is not modified or compromised in any way by the presence of INtime. Real-time processes run on the INtime kernel, and non-real-time processes run on Windows for a hybrid approach to real-time Windows solutions.
Windows application threads communicate with their real time counterparts running on the INtime kernel through the INtime NTX API allowing them to share the contents of real-time objects and coordinate activities.
eVM Virtualization Platform for Windows
The TenAsys eVM virtualization platform provides a virtual machine that hosts real-time and embedded operating systems running alongside Microsoft Windows. It also provides communication channels to link embedded and Windows applications. In an eVM system, the embedded OS runs in parallel with Windows, on a single, industry-standard, PC-compatible, multi-core platform.
The eVM platform enables migration from outdated hardware to modern embedded platforms. Legacy I/O can be emulated usint Intel virtualization technology (or Intel VT) to minimize rewriting proven code. For example, an obsolete ISA system can be migrated to a smaller and less expensive single-board computer by redirecting access to ISA peripherals to equivalent on-board PCI devices.
The TenAsys eVM platform accommodates hardware (access to I/O) and timing (interrupt latency) needs by giving the guest OS direct access to time-critical hardware. I/O is assigned exclusively to each guest OS so existing native device drivers have direct access to real hardware.
Development Environment
TenAsys RTOS tools are integrated into the Microsoft Visual Studio IDE. All editing, compiling, and debugging of INtime real-time applications are done within Visual Studio using the same techniques one can use for standard Windows applications.