Intel oneAPI toolkits support XPU software development
Intel has announced production of software development kits for cross-architecture applications for its CPUs, GPUs and FPGAs, or XPUs.
The 2021.1 toolkits deliver oneAPI, an open, standards-based, unified cross-architecture programming model for developers to select hardware for accelerated computing.
The company announced its oneAPI initiative in November, to provide an open, unified cross-architecture programming to the ecosystem as an alternative to proprietary programming models. The oneAPI toolkits, in combination with the Intel DevCloud, to provide the production tools for distributed intelligence development.
Specialised hardware architectures typically require unique languages and tools, which limit code reuse and hardware choices. oneAPI’s heterogeneous programming model delivers performance without proprietary lock-in while interoperating with code written in familiar languages such as C, C++, Fortran and Python, and standards such as MPI and OpenMP.
Intel’s oneAPI Base toolkit includes compilers, performance libraries, analysis and debug tools, and a compatibility tool that aids in migrating code written in CUDA to Data Parallel C++ (DPC++). Additional toolkits for high performance computing (HPC), artificial intelligence (AI), IoT and rendering provide tools and components to help accelerate specialised workloads.
Intel oneAPI toolkits enable developers to build cross architecture applications using a single code base across XPUs to optimise hardware features and lower software development and maintenance costs, says Intel. Developers can choose the best architecture for the problem they are trying to solve without needing to rewrite software for the next architecture and platform, continues Intel.
The toolkits are free to download and use locally, or from the Intel DevCloud, where developers can develop and test code and workloads on a variety of Intel CPUs, GPUs and FPGAs, and where select customers are already developing with oneAPI on the Intel Iris Xe-HP development platform. Access options include web download, repositories and containers. There are also commercial versions of the toolkit available, with support from Intel technical consulting engineers.
More than 60 leading research organisations, companies and universities support the oneAPI initiative and some note their success using Intel oneAPI toolkits.
