What is vtVAX?
vtVAX is an application that provides a virtual DEC VAX computer system on a PC - a computer within a computer. vtVAX is similar to products such as VMware, Xen, and VirtualBox, the difference being the architecture of the virtualized environment. vtVAX may be installed as an application under Microsoft Windows or on Bare Metal (a system with no pre-installed operating system). Please see the vtVAX Host System Requirements page on our web site for host system hardware and operating system requirements.
Virtualization preserves your investment in the legacy VAX applications while providing the advantages of new hardware: improved performance and reliability along with decreased acquisition cost and operating expense.
Tthe diagram below shows how vtVAX acts as a layer separating the VMS and physical host environments: neither side knows the other is there.
vtVAX emulates the VAX CPU and storage and communications device adapters: translating VAX instructions and I/O requests into Intel x86 architecture equivalents, passing them on to the host hardware for processing, then returning the results to the VMS operating system. The compatibility of the vtVAX emulation with the DEC VAX hardware has been tested using the original VAX hardware design tools and diagnostics to ensure your applications will run as expected.
VMS and your VMS-based applications run without modification in the virtual VAX. No porting is required. No re-compiling or re-linking. The first step after installing vtVAX is to define the desired virtual hardware configuration using the GUI-based Configuration Manager utility. Then you copy the data from your VAX disks to the new host platform, start vtVAX, and boot the virtual VAX as your would the native VAX system. It's that simple! Because the existing software runs as-is, in many cases recertification is not required. This can be a significant cost and time savings for those in regulated industries.
The performance of the virtual VAX is determined by the speed of the host platform hardware, not the model of VAX system that is being emulated. The vtVAX Instruction Caching option dramatically improves the performance of CPU-intensive applications such as floating point, statistical analysis, and data warehouse business analytics.
Modern storage subsystems and network interfaces offer significant improvement in performance and reliability over the VAX devices they replace. This translates to less down-time and increased productivity for your users.
Modern systems are smaller and far more efficient than the older VAX hardware, requiring less power, cooling, and floor space. Hardware maintenance costs are also significantly less, and are usually covered by warranty for the first 1-3 years.
Lower operating cost. Increased reliability, performance, and productivity. The vtVAX advantage. Contact us today and see what it's all about!