14 DAY TRIAL // If you are thinking that shifting from 32-bit software to the 64-bit version is a pain in the back, consider this: the next revolution in the processor world will require a complete rewrite of the existing code. Advanced Micro Devices claims that the actual software will have to be flushed out in order to leave room for software to support processors built with a variety of different cores.
The most important aspect in the multi-core environment will be the implementation of a new software stack. AMD is already in talks with its software partners, such as Microsoft, in order to convince them to gear up for the upcoming Fusion processor, that will kick in during 2009. It will be built with a variety of cores, including graphics, x86 and some other cores.
"We don't have a specific proposal, but we are out talking to partners about the concept and it is getting a lot of attention," said Chuck Moore, chief architect of AMD's accelerated computing initiative. "Over the next few months or quarters, I think we will sharpen our views and put out a proposal-and perhaps a consortium behind it," he continued. "It's not just an AMD thing. It's an open system, and lets other players innovate at different layers."
The chip manufacturer claims that it's high time the computer software get some face-lifts, just as the Open Systems Interconnection stack changed the existing networking applications back in 1978. According to AMD, the industry needs more layers of abstraction, in order to let software developers take advantage of the possibilities of parallel computing, but not to have to delve deeper in the multi-core processor architecture.
The refurbished computer stack could include some run-time environments to reside on top of the operating system, in order to manage the chip-level resources. "The industry is in a little bit of a panic about how to program multi-core processors, especially heterogeneous ones," said Moore. To make effective use of multi-core hardware today you need a PhD in computer science. That can't continue if we want to enable heterogeneous CPUs," he said.
Next year, the two biggest x86 CPU makers will start to mass-produce x86 parts built with multiple cores residing on the same die.