1. A machine readable medium to store OS kernel code, which when executed by a machine, causes the machine to perform the operations of: maintaining a process control block (PCB) adapted to hold a plurality of process entries to be allocated an amount of execution time on the machine during OS runtime; and allocating an amount of execution time of a logical processor in the machine for execution of active firmware code as a co-equal agent during operating system (OS) runtime to perform a system management task based on a process entry of the plurality of process entries including a reference to the active firmware code.