SAN JOSE, ESC Silicon Valley, April 3, 2006 - At a time when other software vendors are still trying to define their multi-core strategy, QNX Software Systems today announced the general availability of the embedded industry's first comprehensive software suite for leveraging the new generation of multi-core processors.The new QNX® Neutrino® Multi-Core Technology Development Kit (TDK) is the only commercial solution that addresses all challenges of multi-core design. Whether customers are migrating existing applications to multi-core hardware platforms or creating new multi-core enabled applications, the TDK offers the full range of multiprocessing options, including symmetric, asymmetric, and "bound," an innovative new technology from QNX Software Systems. As a result, developers can accelerate code migration and achieve maximum performance on a broad range of multi-core processors from Intel, Freescale, Broadcom, and other vendors.
Unlike proposed solutions from other OS vendors, QNX makes available today the multiprocessing OS kernel optimizations, multi-core aware board support packages, and optimized development tools needed to immediately address multi-core development issues.
"When it comes to multi-core, embedded developers can't wait around while other vendors throw out competitive rhetoric about 'strategic initiatives' and 'thought leadership'," said Dave Curley, vice president of marketing at QNX Software Systems. "Multi-core has arrived, it's here to stay, and only QNX is providing a migration path that allows developers to take full advantage of this technology today."
Multi-core processors supported by the new QNX solution include the Intel® CoreTM Duo Processors T2500 and L2400, the Broadcom BCM12xx dual-core and BCM14xx quad-core processors, and the Freescale MPC8641D dual-core PowerPC® processor.
"Thanks to QNX's proven multiprocessing support and longstanding partnerships with the major processor vendors, we can support new multi-core chips as they hit the street, giving our customers a jump on product development and maximum design flexibility," said Romain Saha, netcoms segment manager, QNX.
Already, QNX's multi-core solution has garnered widespread industry recognition. Earlier this year, it won the prestigious Embedded Award 2006, which is given to products characterized by outstanding innovation in embedded technology.
The commercial launch of the QNX Neutrino Multi-Core TDK follows a highly successful beta program, which included leading OEMs in the networking and industrial automation markets.
Powerful choice of multiprocessing options
Powered by the massively scalable QNX Neutrino RTOS, the QNX Neutrino Multi-Core TDK allows developers to choose the multiprocessing model best suited to their multi-core designs. Besides offering asymmetric multiprocessing (AMP) and symmetric multiprocessing (SMP), the kit supports bound multiprocessing (BMP), an innovative hybrid capability that combines the superior scalability and resource management of SMP with the developer control of AMP. This groundbreaking technology greatly simplifies migration to multi-core chips and helps "future proof" designs for next-generation processors that integrate four, eight, or more separate processing cores.
Multi-Core Expedite Program accelerates transition to multi-core
Working with leaders like Intel, QNX Software Systems has also launched the new QNX Multi-Core Expedite Program, which gives developers early access to multi-core hardware and software platforms for evaluation and prototyping. Already, the program is seeing broad industry uptake from OEMs in several markets, including networking, aerospace, industrial, and consumer.
Under the new program, qualifying members will receive 120-day evaluations of the industry's most advanced multi-core offerings, including the QNX® Momentics® development suite Professional Edition and the QNX Neutrino Multi-Core TDK. For more details, see the accompanying press release, "QNX Introduces Multi-Core Expedite Program for Intel Hardware."
Optimized to accelerate the development of multi-core applications, the QNX Momentics development suite provides a complete multi-core aware toolchain, including multiprocessing debuggers, compilers, and embedding tools. The suite includes the QNX system profiler, a powerful visualization tool that helps developers quickly diagnose and fine-tune the performance of complex multi-core systems.
Availability
The QNX Neutrino Multi-Core Technology Development Kit is available today. Contact your local QNX sales representative for details.