Real-Time Consult's RTOS Evaluation Reports vs. the OMAC Real-time Evaluation Report

OMAC (Open Modular Architecture Controls) has been publishing a "Hard Real-time Extensions of Windows NT Evaluation Report (Phase I and Phase II)" on the Arcweb web site. The reports were drafted by ATR, Hughes, and GM (the latter the sponsors of the project) and can be downloaded free of charge.

Most important, Real-Time Consult is a completely independent, neutral organisation, that is not sponsored by any other organisation or government department. Our reports contain more detailed and higher quality information which gives them added value as compared with the OMAC report.

Real-Time Consult's remarks on the OMAC Evaluation report:

• The OMAC report is dated 17 April 1998. Things have changed so much since then for many of the Windows NT RT Extensions.
• There is no study of the architecture, so they won't see things that are just unacceptable for an RTOS (e.g. unpredictable or deadlock situations).
• It provides mainly a study of WinNT reaction time (and not the latency of individual NT extension system calls).
• They do not measure any metrics with  controllable, varying system loads.
• They conduct only a few simple tests of two small, predefined applications that may not be relevant for most people.
• The report is just a list of test results without much explanation or analysis.

Added value of Real-Time Consult's RTOS Evaluation Reports (items missing in the OMAC report):

• Our reports offer a complete study of the RTOS's architecture to help developers understand how it works. They also identify aspects that are unacceptable for an RTOS so you know the risk of using it.
• The reports give an idea on how simple the RTOS is to install, configure and develop for.
• They discuss the API richness giving the developer an idea of how much work it will require to port or develop applications.
• The reports include accurate tests of the latencies of individual system calls.
• All tests are performed with varying system loads (e.g. filling up system queues).
• You get an explanation and analysis of the test results with their impact on applications.
• The test results are explained in the context of the system architecture.
• We offer a comparison report giving easy access to information on all three Windows NT RT Extensions together. We give the best way to compare all aspects of the RTOSs.

The RTOS Evaluation Reports for INtime, RTX, Hyperkernel and a Comparison Report for all three products are available for sale on this web site.