Dynamic binary translation for virtualisation

  • Alasdair Rawsthorne (Participant)
  • Sologlou, Jason (Participant)
  • John Sandham (Participant)
  • Daniel Owen (Participant)
  • Ian Rogers (Participant)

    Impact: Economic, Technological

    Narrative

    Binary translation enables applications compiled for one architecture to run on another. Research on dynamic binary translation was commercialised through the spin-out company Transitive in 2000. Transitive employed 80 staff at its engineering lab in Manchester and delivered over 20 million copies of its software, before being acquired by IBM in 2009, giving rise to the IBM Manchester Lab. Transitive technology was fundamental in Apple’s transition to Intel CPU chips, and was shipped with around 14 million Mac computers during the REF period. The technology was described as “The most amazing software you’ll never see” by Steve Jobs.
    Impact date1995 → 2000
    Category of impactEconomic, Technological
    Impact levelBenefit

    Research Beacons, Institutes and Platforms

    • Institute for Data Science and AI
    • Digital Futures

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