AMD Updates Its I/O Virtualization Technology

AMD has announced the second version of its I/O virtualization technology specification. The latest specification extends the benefits of AMD’s I/O Memory Management Unit (IOMMU) to provide a secure, scalable, high-performance solution for I/O virtualization in x86-based servers, desktops, and notebook computers.

AMD Virtualization Technology (AMD-V) and the AMD I/O Virtualization Technology (IOMMU) Specification Rev 1.2 are designed to provide high throughput, scalability and overall system efficiency.

AMD says IOMMU was developed in close cooperation with both hardware and software partners that worked as a collective whole to advance the benefits of AMD’s Direct Connect Architecture.

“The IOMMU 1.2 spec is a breakthrough development in furthering our ability to deliver on the promise of virtualization,” said Joe Menard, corporate vice president for AMD. “As multi-core processors become critical for consumer and enterprise applications, IOMMU will provide an essential platform for virtual machines to manage I/O devices in a secure and efficient manner.”

IOMMU revision 1.20 offers the following enhancements designed to handle a number of different types of systems:

• Enhanced security and system reliability – adds precise device access control to protect against malicious or errant device DMA

• Enhanced virtualization capabilities – improves performance and scalability by enabling direct device access by applications reducing overhead in guest and device paths

• Open Standards – designed to conform to PCI-SIG IOV and ATS standards

• Interrupt remapping – enables central management of interrupts in a virtualized system

• ACPI tables – provides information from platform firmware to system software of key I/O topology information

• Enhanced error recovery – provides information for efficient detection and recovery from page faults and errors

The IOMMU 1.2 specification is designed to be used by hypervisors and operating systems in both virtualized and non-virtualized environments, and is useful for server consolidation, protecting operating system integrity, and secure initialization.