The Multicore Association provides a neutral forum for vendors interested in, working with, and/or proliferating multicore-related products, including processors, infrastructure, devices, software, and applications. The organization currently has three working groups: Multicore Communications API (MCAPI), Hypervisors, and Multicore Resource Management.

On April 1, the Multicore Association announced that version 1.0 of the MCAPI specification was finished and would soon be available to the public. MCAPI captures the basic elements of intercore communications and scales to support hundreds of processor cores. This API’s principal use will be in embedded multicore systems with tight memory constraints and task execution times.

"MCAPI … has been developed by a wide variety of member companies that range from processor vendors such as Freescale, Intel, MIPS Technologies, and Tilera to software and development tool suppliers such as Codeplay, eSOL, Imperas, PolyCore Software, and Wind River," remarks Multicore Association president Markus Levy. "Such a variety of contributors helps ensure that the specification will be applicable to many different types of multicore systems."

RapidIO Trade Association www.rapidio.org

The RapidIO Trade Association enables, supports, and drives development of the RapidIO embedded interconnect and its supporting ecosystem. The group will hold the first of its RapidIO Global Design Summits 2008, "Converge, Learn, Innovate, and Design," on May 21 at the Novotel following WiMAX World EMEA in Munich, Germany. This event will showcase technology experts representing CommAgility, Fabric Embedded Tools, IDT, VMETRO, Mercury Computers, RIOLAB, Texas Instruments, Freescale, Tundra Semiconductor, and Xilinx.

"RapidIO technology is the most efficient multihost/processor available and delivers the lowest cost per bit in the industry," asserts RapidIO Trade Association executive director Tom Cox. "These design summits provide a place for the world’s best designers to converge, learn the latest about the RapidIO specification and its expansive ecosystem, and discover innovative ways to speed high-performance, highly reliable solutions to market."

RapidIO Global Design Summits 2008 attendees will gain practical information on the RapidIO standard, including the latest RapidIO roadmaps and technology updates as well as news from the RapidIO ecosystem.

Open Handset Alliance www.openhandsetalliance.com

A multinational alliance of technology and mobile industry leaders, the Open Handset Alliance is committed to fostering mobile device innovation and bringing consumers new mobile experiences. The organization’s first product, Android, is a truly open and comprehensive platform for mobile devices. Using Android, developers, wireless operators, and handset manufacturers will be able to bring new products to market faster and at much lower cost, giving consumers flexible and more personal mobile experiences.

Built from the ground up, Android allows developers to create novel mobile applications that take advantage of Internet-capable handsets. The mobile platform is built on the Linux 2.6 kernel, offering a robust operating system, comprehensive set of libraries, rich multimedia user interface, and complete set of phone applications. Android’s inventive application model makes it easy for developers to extend, replace, and reuse existing software components to produce rich and integrated mobile services.

Developers can download the Android Software Development Kit to create applications for what promises to be an interesting handset platform.