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Intel's Multi-Core Chips Need Software Gains to Fully Pay Off

Posted on: Thursday, 9 March 2006, 21:00 CST

By Mike Rogoway, The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.

Mar. 9--SAN FRANCISCO -- In developing a new line of "multi-core" computer chips, Intel has solved one technical challenge but created another.

Intel's new chips pack two or more processors on a single piece of silicon, increasing computer power while holding down energy consumption. But to maximize performance of the multiple processors, Intel needs software developers from other companies to start writing programs that take advantage of the technology.

"We essentially need something of a breakthrough there," Chief Technology Officer Justin Rattner said Wednesday at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco.

The chip maker tried to jumpstart the process this week, using the developer forum to court programmers with tutoring, software tools and even cash prizes for projects that utilize the multi-core chips.

Rattner said the company, which has almost 17,000 Oregon employees, needs help to close the gap between software and hardware. He said development of programs for multi-core may be as much as a decade behind hardware development.

Intel rolled out its first dual-core microprocessors late last year, and said this week that it plans to update them with a new energy-saving chip architecture in the third quarter of 2006. By the end of this year, Intel said, nearly three-quarters of all the microprocessors it makes will use dual-core technology.

Sometime in 2007, Intel plans to introduce "quad-core" chips with four microprocessors. In time, the company hopes to put dozens or perhaps hundreds of microprocessors on chips. Computers with such power might be able to drive and steer a car, for example, or perform other tasks well beyond the scope of today's technology.

But it's not going to happen right away. Intel said this week that it will move conservatively to introduce eight-core chips -- and beyond -- because computers can't yet use them.

Multi-core chips must be programmed to coordinate their work and access to computer memory, so the work of each processor doesn't conflict with the work of another. Intel calls such programming, which instructs multiple processors to work in parallel, "multi-threading."

While Intel has overcome the basic hardware challenge behind multi-core chips, it will have to rely on other companies to write such programs. As encouragement Wednesday, Intel highlighted the work of Pixar Animation Studios, which has developed computer software that takes advantage of the additional computing power multi-core chips provide to produce more detailed animation.

Intel introduced new development tools for programmers Wednesday, too, and said it will work with universities to teach multi-core programming. It also announced promotional contests to pique developers' interest, promising $5,000 prizes to programmers who solve multi-threading problems that Intel cooks up.

Multi-core chips bring to challenges to mainstream computing that had previously been confined to theory and to the specialized world of supercomputing, according to Nathan Brookwood, founder of the industry research firm Insight64.

"To design a program that does things in parallel is hard, and there haven't been many computer courses on this," he said.

However long it takes for software development to catch up with the new direction of the hardware, though, Brookwood said multi-core chips will pay dividends. Computers, like people, are juggling an increasing number of tasks. And if a multi-core computer can set aside one processor to run, say, a virus scan, Brookwood said it will speed up the rest of the work.

"Users will benefit from multi-core," he said, "even if the individual applications are designed for single core."

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Source: The Oregonian

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