1. Virtualization of Mobile Phones
Larry Rudolph
CFP
October

2. What is virtualization?
vir•tu•al (adj): existing in essence or effect,
though not in actual fact
Virtualization is
time-sharing and abstraction done right
layer of abstraction between OS and actual hardware
Current major use cases
In data-center: server consolidation
In home: multiple OS’s in same box, e.g. windows on mac
Note: Smartphones are comparable with 10 year-old PC
are more personal than PC’s
Virtualization has been around for a long time (IBM did it in the 70’s). It’s recent resurgence started about 15 years ago. Since much of a smartphone computing capabilities are about the same as a 10 year old personal computer, one should not worry about the overheads.
Cell phones are not just 10 year-old PC’s, so the use cases are different.
Larry Rudolph Oct 2009

3. Smartphones are like PC’s
Mobile Smartphone
Apps: contacts, ringtones, photos, music, movies, browser, chess & other children games, facebook, IM, viruses, ...
Personal (questionable?) content
Corporate Smartphone
Corporate , files, enterprise apps, sensitive data
Locked down, encrypted, vpn’ed, password, managed by corporate IT department (e.g. Blackberry) -- lost, stolen, or hacked phone could be costly to enterprise
Peaceful Coexistence?
“Fences make good neighbors,” No restrictions to what I do with my phone, but no viruses, no political content, no ...
Today, many people routinely carry two mobile phones all the time. Some people need to keep different aspects of their lives separate. Some companies are concerned about the content contained on their devices. DRM-broken apps, songs, movies could cause problems if discovered. Especially true for highly “personal” content. On the otherhand, corporate phones can be “dorky” or far from “cool.” Encrypting everything is expensive (power), getting permission before installing apps is annoying and invasive. Constantly entering passwords is silly.
Larry Rudolph Oct 2009

4. Mobile phones are personal
Different uses
Everyday: utilitarian (music, video, , IM, ...)
Beach & sports: rugged, scratchproof
Formal: small, elegant, color-coordinated
Vacation: great camera, global maps
Fashion
Traditional: Style, size, color
Geek: capabilities, auxiliary features
Like watches, music players, even shoes
but there is no 2-year contract on shoes
Phones are with us all the time. But at different times, we “wear different hats” and our phones have to contain the union of everything we need. This is not always possible -- cannot be big and small at same time. Cannot be a fashion statement and utilitarian. But we are often stuck with one phone at a time.
Larry Rudolph Oct 2009

5. Mobile phones are locked
You may own your phone but
it may be locked to a particular carrier
apps must first be signed before they can be installed.
no root access; cannot install own drivers
Who cares?
Teachers, Free-lance OS developers
Reason?
Isolation from baseband
Is it legal?
Can buy PC and install favorite OS, why can’t we do the same for phones?
Larry Rudolph Oct 2009

6. Solution: Virtualize Many vPhones in one physical handset
Grandma doesn’t care what OS is running
She should be able to buy apps from any store
Uniform UI, isolated virtual machines underneath
work/personal phone; compartmentalize personalities
Larry Rudolph Oct 2009

7. Solution: Virtualize Many vPhones in one physical handset
Grandma doesn’t care what OS is running
She should be able to buy apps from any store
Uniform UI, isolated virtual machines underneath
work/personal phone; compartmentalize personalities
Larry Rudolph Oct 2009

8. Solution: Virtualize
Data, Applications, Communications can be moved to:
physical handset (symbian, windows, palm, linux, ...)
much different phone or PDA
laptop
desktop My
Phone
apps
data
config
Larry Rudolph Oct 2009

9. Summary My phone is always with me and monitors everything I do
I would like to monitor what it does
There is more to my life than interacting with my phone
I sit in front of my laptop
Innovative applications will be directed towards the phone
Personal Computers’s aren’t sufficiently personal or location- aware
User Interface is where it is at
Life is too short to spend 5 clicks in order to buy a candy bar
More people need to work on infrastructure
Virtual phones encourage experimentation & innovation
Larry Rudolph Oct 2009