VMware wants to virtualize mobile phone operating systems
VMware intends to virtualise operating systems on mobile phones using technology acquired from Trango Virtual Processors. It hopes that this will help handset vendors reduce development time. End users will also benefit from the technology by being able to run multiple profiles – such as one for personal use and one for work use – on the same mobile phone.
The "Mobile Virtualization Platform" decouples data and applications from the underlying hardware. The idea is to make it easier to write portable software for mobile devices. VMware claims that the technology will allow mobile device vendors to isolate trusted services such as digital rights management and authentication from the operating system.
The growth of open operating systems in the mobile phone market means this could provide an important benefit. VMWare says it will focus on optimizing the product's power consumption and memory usage.
(djwm)
