Update: ARM7 gets 40-bit, virtualization support

Rick Merritt, EETimes
8/23/2010 12:42 PM EDT

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- ARM Ltd. announced extensions for virtualization and 40-bit addressing to the ARMv7a architecture, two of the key new aspects of ARM's upcoming Eagle core. The extensions aim to serve a variety of new and existing markets from digital cameras, Web-connected TVs and servers.

The lack of 64-bit addressing is one of the barriers to a new initiative bringing ARM cores to servers. The 40-bit addressing will ease but not eliminate that concern.

A new so-called Large Physical Address Extension translates 32-bit physical addresses to 40-bit virtual addresses, easing pressure on the 4 GByte memory and I/O limit of ARM's 32-bit architecture.

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