The Multicore Association

NEWSLETTER

What's happening this month at The Multicore Association?

The Multicore Association (MCA) is enlisting external reviewers to provide feedback on the pre-release version of its communications API specification. MCA's pre-release version of its multicore communications application programming interface (MCAPI) specification has been completed. The primary objective of the MCAPI is to facilitate the hardware-independent development and to increase the portability of multicore applications. To verify the thoroughness and soundness of its specification, the consortium is recruiting volunteers who are interested in using the API to develop or modify portable applications for multicore systems.

MCAPI captures the basic elements of inter-core communications that are required for embedded 'closely-distributed' systems. The target systems for such an API are extremely varied and will scale to support a multitude of processors (2 to hundreds). The MCAPI working group's primary goal was to specify a software API, not an implementation, thereby establishing great flexibility for the potential uses of this specification. While many of the general concepts well-known in widely distributed computing are found in MCAPI, its main focus is on embedded multicore systems that exhibit features such as tighter memory constraints and task execution times, reliable on-chip interconnect, and high system throughput. Besides the details of the API, the MCAPI specification also includes example usage models for multimedia, networking, and automotive applications.

If you would like to be a reviewer of the MCAPI specification, please contact the MCA president, Markus Levy (530-672-9113 or markus.levy@multicore-association.org). As a reviewer, you will receive the pre-release version of the specification. Additionally, a MCAPI working group member will interact with you during the review process to help answer any questions and provide additional explanation.

The Japan Multicore Expo

Now in its second year, the two-day Multicore Expo Japan will feature many technical and executive sessions, as well as keynotes by Sony Computer Entertainment and Ricoh. There will also be a presentation and exhibit with the Multicore Association. The event, hosted by Nikkei Electronics, also includes exhibits and a reception and is held in conjunction with Nikkei Electronics' Embedded Processor Symposium (EPS). The list of participating companies includes Aspex Semiconductor, Carbon Design, CriticalBlue, EEMBC, Enea, Encirq, Green Hills Software, Imagination Technologies, Imperas, Mentor Graphics, Multicore Association, NestGroup, Sonics, Sun Microsystems, Synopsys, and Texas Instruments. All presentation-level sponsorships are sold out, however, there are still a few exhibition booths available.

Please check www.multicore-expo.com for more details about registration and exhibiting.

ARM Developer's Conference presentation

Sven Brehmer, CEO of PolyCore Software and chairman of the MCA's MCAPI working group, will present at the ARM Developer's conference on October 2. The presentation "Multicore ARMs "Speak" the Same Language with a Standardized Communications API" will go into details of the MCAPI. www.rtcgroup.com/arm/2007

AdvancedTCA Summit

The Multicore Association will be exhibiting at the AdvancedTCA Summit 2007 on October 16-18 at the Santa Clara Convention Center. The conference provides practical information on the current state of the Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture. www.advancedtcasummit.com