An Inside View: The $20 Million Intel/Microsoft Multicore Programming Initiative

Most TG Daily readers may already know about the news of Intel and Microsoft setting up two research centers called "The Universal Parallel Computing Research Center" (UPCRC) at the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) with a grant of $10 million each. In addition, UIUC will match with its own grant of $8 million which will be utilized by 22 faculty members from the Department of Computer Science and Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Although the announcement came on March 18, the news and specifically Berkeley's name had been doing rounds on technology news websites much earlier. Berkeley and Illinois were selected from an initial set of 25 top universities across the nation including MIT and Stanford. The funding is particularly exciting for Illinois since it is a recognition of its continued excellence in the field of parallel computing since the days of Illiac IV back in the 1960s.


Misconceptions


The project group


The gap between the community and researchers

As a result, such research or a prototype may not be scalable into real-world applications or it may not be user-friendly enough to make sense for the developer community. On the other hand, the problem of multi-core programming is staring at us right now. I am not sure what Intel's and Microsoft's expectations are, but it is quite possible that they are in fact looking at fundamental results from the academic centers to leverage their large work force to polish and realize the ideas that come forth. It calls for a much closer collaboration between the centers and the companies than it appears at first sight.


Actor model


About the author:
Rajesh Karmani is a graduate student in the Department of Computer Science at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is a recipient of the Sohaib and Sarah Abbasi Fellowship. His current area of interest is programming languages and software engineering. Previously, he has worked in wireless sensor networks and multi-agent systems.

Disclaimer:
The views expressed in the article are author's personal view and do not represent those of TG Daily, the University of Illinois, or the UPCRC at University of Illinois.

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Wolfgang Gruener
Contributor

Wolfgang Gruener is an experienced professional in digital strategy and content, specializing in web strategy, content architecture, user experience, and applying AI in content operations within the insurtech industry. His previous roles include Director, Digital Strategy and Content Experience at American Eagle, Managing Editor at TG Daily, and contributing to publications like Tom's Guide and Tom's Hardware.