Product: RapidMind Platform Version 2 Released

Multi-core development platform provider RapidMind has announced the availability of the latest version of the RapidMind Platform, which affords developers an open-ended platform to develop applications that fully utilize the capabilities of multi-core processors, such as the Cell Broadband Engine (Cell BE). The platform gives developers the means to develop applications for all hardware utilizing the Cell BE, whether for the PlayStation 3 or as a jumping off point for deployments to other Cell BE based products, including those from IBM, Sony, or Mercury. With RapidMind, developers continue to use standard C++ and their existing compilers and tools, and rely on the RapidMind platform to “parallelize” across multiple cores. The RapidMind platform v2.0 is available immediately, and a free, full-featured RapidMind Developer Edition is available for evaluation from the RapidMind website. RapidMind partnered with multiple providers of multi-core processing platforms in creating the RapidMind Platform v2.0. According to RapidMind officials, more than 1,000 developers of high-performance computing and enterprise software are using RapidMind to “simultaneously gain the performance benefits of the new, exceptionally fast multi-core processors and the ease of single-threaded, single-core programming.” “Ultimately, our solution frees software developers to focus their skills on building applications that are hardware independent and will automatically scale to additional cores and future multi-core processors,” said Ray DePaul, president and CEO of RapidMind. “The RapidMind platform enhances application programmability, performance and portability. We make multi-core programming painless.”