Intel: timely article

["Marc L. Smith" <mlsmith@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi everyone, 

Here is a link to an eWeek article that just came out last week:

http://www.eweek.com/print_article2/0,1217,a=181026,00.asp

The title is: Tera-scale Computing: Intel's Attack of the Cores

I encourage everyone to read the article, but to get to the point:

Here is one excerpt:

Nor will it be successful without getting software developers, many of whom are just now starting to tackle the move from single-thread applications to multi-threaded applications, on board, Intel executives said.

"Every time you increase the number of threads, you're putting greater burden on the programmers to write the applications … to actually harness all that available parallelism," Rattner said.

Question: 

Have we ever attempted to attract the attention of Intel? They *must* be aware of CSP! If Intel has spurned WoTUG's advances in the past, perhaps it's time to court them, again? We should invite an Intel exec/engineer to give a keynote at CPA, just before or just after another keynote extolling the benefits and virtues of process-oriented software design on multicore architectures.  :-)

It appears Intel, for its part, is reaching looking for partners to reach out to. Here's another excerpt:

But programming for Tera-scale chips will require a completely different approach that uses lots of different threads simultaneously.

That's a concept only a few programmers are currently familiar with, Pawlowski said.

It is clear Intel is acutely aware of the problem, and need to educate the programming masses. Okay, last excerpt:

So Intel is getting to work. In some cases, the company is working directly with large software makers.

Elsewhere, its Software Products Group is offering tools to assist programmers with multithreading, said James Reinders, director of marketing and business development for the group's Developer Products Division, also in Hillsboro.

The tools, including compilers, performance libraries, tuners and thread checkers, aim to address such challenges as scalability—how to make an application run faster on more than one core—correctness, or eliminating bugs, as well as ease of development.

We should focus our efforts to make contact with Intel's Software Products Group, and invite Intel to work with Academia as well as software companies. This is a crucial time, if it's not already too late, to get the endorsement of one of the world's most influential semiconductor manufacturers. Isn't this a golden opportunity for FDR, for example?

I'm at a loss for where to begin, but I'd like to invite some open discussion regarding what I believe is a time-limited opportunity. Please share your thoughts.

Sincerely,

Marc