IDF: Intel enlists multi-core for security, JavaScript and LTE

Intel's chief technology officer took to the stage at IDF on Thursday to outline how the company plans to use its many-core platform to advance high-performance computing and end-user systems.

Justin Rattner said during the closing keynote at the conference that Intel hopes to achieve a 300-fold improvement on the energy efficiency and performance of 'extreme' computing environments, such as exa-scale supercomputing, over the next 10 years.

"We are at a very significant point in time where technology is no longer the limiting factor. What limits us today is our own imagination," he said.

Rattner underscored the importance of Intel's many-cores research by demonstrating systems including a 48-core web application server platform and a prototype LTE wireless broadband base station assembled from commercial PC hardware.

Rattner also showcased Intel's low-power Claremont processor, which is designed to operate near the threshold voltage for transistors and was demonstrated in a solar-powered prototype system earlier in the week.

Intel will advance the platform by enlisting developer partners, and unveiled a number of new developer tools on Thursday, including integration systems for JavaScript and Xeon processors.

Rattner explained that the tools allow developers to easily adapt code from regular Xeon processors to high-performance and many-core systems.

"The time is now, if you haven't already, to start building multi-core and many-core applications," he said. "And you don't need to be a 'ninja programmer' to do it."