Polycore Software brengt versie 2.0 uit van Poly-Platform, zijn softwareplatform voor het ontwikkelen van multicore systemen. Poly-Platform bestaat uit een verzameling gereedschappen en een runtime communicatie-engine waarmee bestaande code makkelijker naar een multicore-omgeving geport kan worden.

Versie 2.0 verbetert de tools voor geheugenorganisatie en voegt functionaliteit toe om efficiency van de doelsystemen verder te verbeteren. De grondslag hiervoor word gelegd door verbeteringen in Poly-Mapper, een grafische configuratietool die de applicatiefuncties naar multicore-architecturen mapt. Het nieuwe geheugenmanagement in Poly-Mapper helpt de ontwikkelaar beter met geheugenorganisatie en -structuur en genereert de benodigde code vanuit dit model. De gebruiker kan geheugengebruik over het systeem definiëren en interprocessorcommunicatie fijnmazig regelen.

Verder introduceert Poly-Platform 2.0 porteerbare geheugen-maps, verbeterde bronconfiguratie, -management en -monitoring, en boodschap-scheduling.

Read article at Bits&Chips

LONDON – PolyCore Software Inc. (Burlingame, Calif.) has upgraded its Poly-Platform tool to version 2.0 with the inclusion of Poly-Mapper which provides control of memory used for messaging in multi-core software.

The Poly-Platform, is a bundle of productivity software tools and runtime communications engine that simplifies the process of migrating to and developing applications for multicore platforms. It is aimed at applications in telecommunications, data communiations, military, aerospace, and process control.

Poly-Mapper is a graphical configuration tool that maps the application functions to multicore architectures. Developers can graphically define memory usage across the system. Poly-Platform supports the Multicore Association’s Multicore Communications API (MCAPI).

Because Poly-Platform is model-driven ports to different operating systems and processor hardware are relatively simple to implement the company said through a spokesperson.

The supported processors are x86, PowerPC, Blackfin DSPs, Texas Instruments DSPs, Tensilica DSPs and ARM 9. The supported operating systems include Linux, Windows, ThreadX, DSP BIOS, RTXC and uCOS, the spokersperson said.

Implementing multicore software is tricky, but it just got easier. PolyCore Software just announced Version 2.0 of its Poly-Platform complete with productivity tools and a runtime communications engine to simplify developing and migrating to applications for multicore platforms. The new version features enhanced memory organization tools and functionality to maximize efficiency for telecom, datacom, military and aerospace, and process control.

Although gaining in popularity, multicore is still in the beginning stages of adoption. It isn’t just dealing with multiple cores; it’s also a matter of a list of multiple dimensions—cores, types of cores, one RTOS on one core and Linux on another, and a wealth of memory architectures thrown in for good measure.

In a recent discussion, Sven Brehmer, president and CEO of PolyCore Software, indicated that he’s seen companies with 600 different platforms. Using the same applications across even fewer platforms can be a nightmare, but he explained how it’s becoming easier. PolyCore already delivers a multicore platform with tools and run-time software that can be applied to multiple cores on a chip, or multiple processors, or multiple chips on different boards to help users preserve their software investment.

Now, Polycore has bumped up the number of features to improve portability, configurability, efficiency and performance. Fundamental to improvements in Poly-Platform Version 2.0 are changes to Poly-Mapper, a graphical configuration tool that maps the application functions to multicore architectures. The new memory management of Poly-Mapper significantly improves application functionality and configurability by assisting the developer with memory organization and structure, generating code from the model. Developers can graphically define memory usage across the system, finely controlling interprocessor communication to ensure consistent, documented and well-defined memory utilization for the application. In addition, memory organization models improve abstraction and portability.

The memory maps are created in the tool and the tool keeps track so that there is no overlapping between different regions in your different memory sections, and designers can easily specify regions.  The memory is symbolically defined. The symbolic definitions can be used in an application and the memory transferred to any system without changing modifying the application. In the past, this process would have to be done by hand.

Memory access regions have also been added to be able to use resources efficiently, and share resources between different resources or nodes, between an application and a driver, for example. This enables the use of the data, without moving the data – you just move references to it. This provides efficient resource usage and improved performance.

Adding configurability to pools is another feature. It is important to locate resources in the type of memory that makes sense. In some cases, that might mean putting in a certain resource with fast SRAM and in other cases it can be with slower DRAM. PolyCore giving a lot of configurability to the developer who can now configure exclusive use of resources, extremely important if there are deadlines.

Resource and message scheduling is also now enhanced. Within a multicore system, the worst thing that can happen is unnecessary waiting. When attempting an operation and if there is not success, it is necessary to wait for a resource. Now, there’s a capability that says, “Don’t schedule me until you know I will succeed,” or “If I don’t have enough resources to complete a task, don’t schedule me.” This is important since every time you use the operating system or signaling between cores, there’s a cost.

The new version also adds monitoring so that scheduling can take place when resources are low, and multicast capabilities, expanding point-to-point communication to a single point to a destination list.

According to Sven, designers ask, “‘can’t I just press a button and make it happen?’ So far the answer is no. There is no magic solution to multicore. But what we do is to make it much easier. We give you control over how you do it. We put the programmer in charge. There are certainly some complex aspects with multicore but it’s really not that hard.”

Multicore has been around for ten years. From a software perspective, Polycore agrees we’re still at the early stages. The shortage of software tools and run-time solutions is still making the progress somewhat slow. At least now, it’s faster than it was before.

Poly-Platform Version 2.0 is available now for multicore applications in markets such as telecom and datacom, military, and process control and industry automation. For more information and pricing, contact sales@PolyCoreSoftware.com

See also Where are you with multicore? by Carolyn Mathas

In a recent discussion with Sven Brehmer, president and CEO of PolyCore Software–See Productivity tools and runtime engine boost multicore efficiency—I asked him where the adoption of multicore stands today.

Sven indicated that even though the technology has been around for ten years, from a software perspective we’re still in the early stages. While it’s true that it’s used on PCs, servers, and some embedded systems, he indicated that it’s the shortage of software tools and run-time solutions that make progress slow.

So, what is your experience? Have you considered multicore? What’s stopping you or at least hindering the rush to adopt? I’m curious. Have you looked into it and decided it’s too confusing? Weigh in on what you think.

See also Productivity Tools and Runtime Engine Boost Multicore Efficiency, by Carolyn Mathas, EE Times

Burlingame, CA (April 24, 2012) – PolyCore Software, Inc. (PSI), the leader in multicore software development solutions, today announced Version 2.0 of its Poly-PlatformTM multicore software platform, a bundle of productivity tools and runtime communications engine that simplifies the process of migrating to and developing applications for multicore platforms. Version 2.0 offers enhanced memory organization tools and added functionality to maximize multicore efficiency for the high-performance, concurrency needs of applications targeting telecom, datacom, military and aerospace, and process control.

Fundamental to improvements in Poly-Platform Version 2.0 are changes to Poly-Mapper, a graphical configuration tool that maps the application functions to multicore architectures. The new memory management of Poly-Mapper significantly improves application functionality and configurability by assisting the developer with memory organization and structure, generating code from the model. Developers can graphically define memory usage across the system, finely controlling interprocessor communication to ensure consistent, documented and well-defined memory utilization for the application. In addition, memory organization models improve abstraction and portability.

Additional new features include portable memory maps, improved resource configuration, management and monitoring, and message scheduling. These features precisely control resources, enabling developers to tune parallel processes for maximum performance. With the added control and clear separation between the application and underlying multicore platform, applications are easily ported and optimized for different architectures.

“To take advantage of multicore performance and power efficiency, developers need standardized programming models and strong tool support to manage concurrency, improve time to market, and optimize portability and performance,” said Sven Brehmer, president and CEO, PolyCore Software. “Poly-Platform 2.0, with its enhanced memory management tools and added functionality, significantly reduces the difficulty of parallel-process programming, enabling developers to get high-performance products to market faster, improving development costs.”

Poly-Platform addresses the challenges that arise in multicore programming and facilitates the full use of multicore architectures. With the Poly-Templates GUI tool that rapidly jumpstarts the design cycle, Poly-Platform increases a company’s competitive advantage by handling the inter-process communications across cores, and thereby freeing time for developers to enhance applications. When implementing new multicore solutions, engineers can reuse and scale existing code from one to many cores, preserving software investments. Poly-Platform supports the Multicore Association’s Multicore Communications API (MCAPI), creating an efficient, standardized programming paradigm.

“ThreadX customers seeking high-performance process control or improved power efficiency can use Poly-Platform 2.0 to move into the parallel processing paradigm,” confirmed William E. Lamie, CEO, Express Logic, Inc.“Whether many single-core applications are working concurrently or the company has embraced a many core architecture, Poly-Platform provides developers with tools that can help them achieve faster time-to-market and secure, reliable products. PolyCore Software offers our customers the ability to succeed more effectively in today’s highly competitive marketplace.”

Availability

Poly-Platform Version 2.0 is available now for multicore applications in markets such as telecom and datacom, military, and process control and industry automation. For more information and pricing, contact sales@PolyCoreSoftware.com.

About PolyCore Software, Inc.

PolyCore Software, Inc., provides development tools and run-time solutions to simplify application development and improve development productivity for multicore, multi-processor architectures. Improvements in time to market, development costs and risks are achieved through software reuse, ease of use development tools, and the generation of optimized run time program elements. Design for today’s architectures and run on tomorrow’s architectures. Visit PolyCore Software at www.polycoresoftware.com.

# # #

Media Contact:
Martina Brehmer
Director of Marketing
PolyCore Software, Inc.
+1 (650) 504-0240
martina@polycoresoftware.com

All product or service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.

By Tedd Gribb and Martina Brehmer, Polycore Software, and Markus Levy, The Multicore Association

Planning the Multicore Journey
Approaching multicore is like planning a road trip; the vehicle should be in good shape and ready for travel. Similarly, a multicore project must be carefully planned. Engineering projects come with unknown factors and a multicore project adds complexity.

One perspective of the multicore journey can be seen in the roadmap of the Multicore Association’s (MCA) roadmap, with the primary goal being to develop an extensive set of application programming interfaces (APIs) and the establishment of an industry-supported set of multicore programming practices and services. One of these is the communications API, MCAPI, the underlying focus of this article.

Questions that Designers Face in Planning a Multicore Journey
Is the application ready for multicore? Does it have “built-in” concurrency characteristics or will it require some restructuring to efficiently run on a multicore platform? Modification is likely.

Is message passing a good approach? Synchronization may be more challenging with true concurrency.

What is the best way to ensure scalability and code re-use for the future? The next platform may have many more cores and designers should be able to re-use the application as the number of cores increases.

What tools are available? Good tools are always useful; with multicore, they are critical.

Poly-Platform facilitates a significant improvement in time-to-market by allowing users to rapidly begin their development cycle, as well as the ability to make adjustments toward an optimized design with little effort. The application can be streamlined for TI’s high performance TMS320C66x DSP generation of multicore processors. Scalability allows for free flowing movement of application source code across TI’s TMS320C667x and C665x processors, as well as rapid transition to next generation architectures and hassle-free programming for future designs.

(Read full article at PR Newswire)

NOW AVAILABLE ON DEMAND

Does your multicore program drive like a car with a blown tire or an overheated engine? With the number of processors on a chip increasing, the growing use of hardware accelerators, and the competition for shared resources, programmers need tools that will help them get rolling and unearth the full potential of high-octane hardware designs.

In addition to harnessing the hardware power, multicore programming tools must support models to enable applications to scale, advocate for the preservation of existing software investments, and simplify the increasingly complex architectures of many processors and accelerators.

Markus Levy (Multicore Association President) and Sven Brehmer (Chairman of the Multicore Communications API Working Group and President of PolyCore Software, Inc.) will discuss the roadside service options for approaching these challenges and getting your multicore program in turbo-charge mode.

Does your multicore program drive like a car with a blown tire or an overheated engine? With the number of processors on a chip increasing, the growing use of hardware accelerators, and the competition for shared resources, programmers need tools that will help them get rolling and unearth the full potential of high-octane hardware designs.

In addition to harnessing the hardware power, multicore programming tools must support models to enable applications to scale, advocate for the preservation of existing software investments, and simplify the increasingly complex architectures of many processors and accelerators.

Markus Levy (Multicore Association President) and Sven Brehmer (Chairman of the Multicore Communications API Working Group and President of PolyCore Software, Inc.) will discuss the roadside service options for approaching these challenges and getting your multicore program in turbo-charge mode.

REGISTER HERE

February 22, 2012 9AM PST

SAN DIEGO & BURLINGAME, Calif.– Express Logic, the worldwide leader in royalty-free real-time operating systems (RTOS) and PolyCore Software, Inc. (PSI), the leader in multicore communications software solutions, today announced extended cooperation to increase support of multicore platforms. To enable applications to more quickly adapt to Tensilica’s multicore configuration, PSI’s Poly-Platform^TM now supports Express Logic’s ThreadX® RTOS on Tensilica’s Xtensa^TM multicore devices. This partnership enables developers to take full advantage of multicore platforms, while easing software development and increasing performance.

Poly-Platform is a collection of productivity tools and a runtime communications stack that simplifies the process of developing applications for multicore architectures. Using Poly-Platform, designers effortlessly optimize performance, improve time-to-market, and preserve existing and future software investments. With Poly-Platform, engineers are able to quickly configure and reconfigure the application, and when the time comes to implement new multicore solutions, existing code may be reused and scaled from one to many cores. Poly-Platform supports the Multicore Association’s Multicore Communications API (MCAPI), providing users with an efficient, standardized programming paradigm.

Express Logic’s ThreadX RTOS, deployed in over 1 billion electronic devices, is a small-footprint, fast run-time environment that supports Tensilica Xtensa processors, and now supports Poly-Platform’s operation on Xtensa multicore devices.

“The combination of ThreadX and Poly-Platform for Xtensa provides multicore configurability from the application level to the silicon,” said Ted Gribb, vice president of sales, PolyCore Software. “This capability optimizes the application-specific multicore platform while accelerating time to market.”

“Poly-Platform provides ThreadX customers with an integrated platform that quickly moves single-core applications to many core architectures.” said William Lamie, president, Express Logic. “PolyCore Software simplifies the multidimensional challenge of programming in a multicore environment. Our joint offering achieves faster time-to-market, a critical factor in succeeding in today’s highly competitive marketplace.”

Rapid enablement and scalability of multicore applications improve the competitive advantage in the multicore race. For more information, please visitwww.polycoresoftware.com/products and www.rtos.com.

About PolyCore Software, Inc.

PolyCore Software, Inc., provides development tools and run-time solutions to simplify application development and improve development productivity for multicore, multi-processor architectures. Improvements in time to market, development costs and risks are achieved through software reuse, ease of use development tools, and the generation of optimized run time program elements. Design for today’s architectures and run on tomorrow’s architectures. For more information, please visit www.polycoresoftware.com or emailsales@polycoresoftware.com.

About Express Logic and ThreadX

Headquartered in San Diego, CA, Express Logic offers the most advanced run-time solution for deeply embedded applications, including the popular ThreadX® RTOS, the high-performance NetX™ TCP/IP stack, the FileX™ embedded MS-DOS compatible file system, and the USBX™ Host/Device USB protocol stack. All products from Express Logic include full source code and have no run-time royalties. For more information about Express Logic solutions, please visit the Web site at www.expresslogic.com, call 1-888-THREADX, or e-mail inquires to info@expresslogic.com.

ThreadX, TraceX, and FileX are registered trademarks, and Certification Pack, NetX, CANX, USBX, StackX, PEGX, preemption-threshold, picokernel, and UDP fast path are trademarks of Express Logic, Inc. All other brands or product names are the property of their respective holders.

(Read article at Business Wire)