Work with the Experts Who Build and Maintain Open Source Virtualization
Whether you need to develop software before silicon exists, scale your CI without a hardware farm, or ship standardized virtual devices that let guest VMs run unchanged across multiple platforms, Linaro can help you unlock the full potential of virtualization on Arm.
- +0 70 QEMU subsystems with a Linaro maintainer
- +0 90 % of Arm CPU emulation features contributed by Linaro
- +0 80 % of Arm-related QEMU patches authored or reviewed over the past 5 years
- +0 2 OASIS VirtIO specifications authored
Why Choose Linaro for Virtualization?
Linaro does not just use open source virtualization — our engineers are responsible for the core arm architecture and maintain a significant portion of the virtualization ecosystem.
That upstream position lets us combine deep Arm architecture knowledge with day-to-day ownership of the code your product depends on, helping your business to:
-
Develop Before the Silicon Exists
Model your SoC, validate your IP and bring up firmware and BSPs against an accurately emulated platform, so software work starts long before tape-out rather than after it.
-
Test at Scale Without a Hardware Farm
Emulation makes CI/CD cheap and repeatable. Run your full test matrix across product variants and architecture revisions in parallel, without buying, racking and maintaining boards for every configuration.
-
Avoid Software and Hardware Lock-In
Standardized virtual interfaces mean guest VMs run unmodified across platforms. Your software stack stays portable, and you stay independent of any single SoC or software vendor.
-
Ship Code That Stays Maintainable
We have a proven record of upstreamable, maintainable code. Landing your enablement work in the upstream projects removes the long-term cost of carrying out-of-tree patches and keeps you aligned with the ecosystem.
-
Verify Standards Compliance
From OASIS VirtIO specification conformance to architecture feature verification, we help you demonstrate that your implementation does what the standard says it does.
See Virtualization on Arm in Action
Linaro’s Expertise Across the Virtualization Stack
Our engineers work across the entire stack — from the dynamic translation engine and device models up through the standardized virtual interfaces that guest operating systems actually talk to.
-
QEMU Emulation and Virtualization
Arm architecture emulation
Deep understanding of the Arm architecture and its future roadmap, including emulation of existing and upcoming architecture features before hardware is available.
Custom device emulation
Device modelling for your IP, so silicon providers and their customers can develop and validate software against a faithful model of the real device.
Core platform work
The TCG dynamic-translation engine, the standard virt machine, and the platform foundations the rest of the ecosystem builds on.
Rust in QEMU
Early work enabling the Rust-in-QEMU effort, giving you memory-safe options for new device implementations.
-
VirtIO and Standardized Virtual Interfaces
OASIS specification design
We author and implement new specifications and can drive your requirements through the standards process.
Device and backend implementation
The virtio and vhost-user device layer: virtio-gpu, virtio-snd, virtio-media, and vhost-user-rng, -gpio, -snd and -rtc, among others.
Kernel and userspace
Deep knowledge of the whole VirtIO ecosystem, from guest kernel drivers to userspace backends, with maintenance of key components such as vhost-user in both rust-vmm and QEMU.
Rust and C implementations
Expertise in both languages gives you a genuine choice of implementation strategy rather than a default.
-
Pre-Silicon Development and CI/CD
Pre-silicon device validation
Validate your IP and prepare the Arm ecosystem for your new devices before tape-out.
Firmware and BSP bring-up
Develop and test firmware and board support packages against emulated platforms, in parallel with hardware development.
Test infrastructure
Emulation-backed CI/CD that scales across product variants, integrated with the Linaro ONELab automated test framework for regression and quality control across your SDLC.
-
Compliance, Upstreaming and Long-Term Support
Compliance testing enablement
Test suites and infrastructure that demonstrate conformance to the VirtIO specification and to architecture requirements.
Code upstreaming
We take your enablement work through upstream review and get it merged, so it is maintained by the community rather than by you alone.
Performance optimization
Profiling and tuning of emulation and virtual device paths where throughput and latency matter.
Project stewardship
We contribute to QEMU’s governance, developer guides, CI infrastructure and general administration — the unglamorous work that keeps the project healthy.
How We Work With You
-
Assessment
We work out which parts of your platform are worth emulating and which are not, and what the emulation has to be faithful about to be useful to your software teams.
-
Modelling & Development
Device models, VirtIO backends and firmware bring-up against the emulated platform, developed in the open where possible and under NDA where it has to be.
-
Validation & Compliance
Conformance against the VirtIO specification and architecture requirements, wired into emulation-backed CI through ONELab so regressions surface on every change.
-
Upstreaming & Maintenance
We carry the work through upstream review and keep it merged, so the community maintains it and you stop paying to rebase it every release.
Proof Points
-
Linaro's involvement in these projects is structural, not incidental:
- Linaro engineers are named across more than 70 subsystems in QEMU’s upstream MAINTAINERS file, including the platform’s foundations and its most critical subsystems.
- Linaro has contributed the vast majority (> 90%) of CPU emulation features for the Arm Architecture.
- Our maintainers not only write code but set the strategic technical direction of the project.
- Linaro has contributed — authored or reviewed — more than 80% of Arm-related patches and over 50% of overall QEMU patches over the past five years.
- Responsible for the project's own governance, developer guides, CI infrastructure, and general administration.
- Our engineers implement new OASIS VirtIO specifications.
- We help maintain key components such as vhost-user in both rust-vmm and QEMU, alongside the corresponding kernel drivers.
- We collaborate across adjacent areas including specification compliance and CI/CD.