APPLICATIONS

The Portland Group, a wholly-owned subsidiary of STMicroelectronics, today announced that version 6.1 of the PGI Workstation 64-bit optimizing Fortran, C and C++ compilers and development tools will be generally available on Dec. 15, 2005. A compiler is software tool that translates applications from the high- level programming languages used by software developers into a binary form a computer can execute. The latest release of the PGI compilers includes several new features and optimizations expected to further accelerate the migration of applications to high-volume 64-bit dual-core AMD and Intel x64 processor-based workstations, servers and clusters. The most important feature introduced with the latest PGI 6.1 compilers is the capability to generate a unified binary optimized for both Intel and AMD x64 processors. While these processors are largely binary compatible from a CPU-instruction standpoint, significant micro-architectural differences make it critical for compilers to generate instruction streams specifically optimized for each type of processor. Until now, developers have been forced to choose whether to generate a binary executable optimized for one or the other processor. As of release 6.1, the PGI compilers are able to incorporate instruction streams fully optimized for both types of processor in a single unified binary. "The implications of the unified binary for developers and users of high- performance applications are enormous," said Douglas Miles, director, The Portland Group. "Developers can standardize on a single high-performance x64 binary, reducing the cost and complexity of developing, tuning and validating applications for high-volume technical servers and workstations. Users of these applications can now work easily in computing environments with multiple types of x64 processors, and can freely choose processors and platforms that are optimal for a given application without the cost, compatibility and performance risks inherent in an environment standardized on a single type of processor." In addition to generating unified binaries for x64 processors, version 6.1 of PGI Workstation is now supported on Microsoft Windows Server 2003 x64 Editions and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition. The PGI Workstation 6.1 compilers and tools co-install with the Microsoft Platform SDK for Windows x64 to provide a command-level Fortran programming environment that is interoperable with Microsoft Visual C++ .NET 2005, and includes separate graphical debugging and profiling tools for development and tuning of OpenMP and auto-parallel native Windows x64 Fortran applications. A future release of PGI Workstation will support Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003, which is designed to accelerate time-to-insight by providing a high performance computing platform that is simple to deploy, operate, and integrate with existing infrastructure and tools. This toolset enables software vendors to develop high-performance computing applications and easily migrate their applications to run natively on Windows Server 2003 x64 Editions, which is the basis of Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003. "We are pleased to have Portland Group's support and to see the 64-bit PGI Workstation compilers and development tools for scientists and engineers added to the growing list of development solutions available on Windows Server 2003 x64 Editions," said John Borozan, group product manager, Windows Server Division, Microsoft Corp. The PGI Workstation compilers and tools are interoperable with several popular UNIX-like shell command interfaces under the Windows Server 2003 x64 Editions, providing a development environment that is compatible with the traditional operating systems used in high-performance computing (HPC). The PGDBG and PGPROF parallel debugging and profiling tools included with PGI Workstation for Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition provide graphical user interfaces that are 100% compatible with the PGI Workstation for Linux versions, creating an environment that is ideal for programmers working in computing environments that incorporate multiple types of operating systems. The PGI Fortran, C and C++ compilers and development tools are used widely in high-performance computing (HPC), the field of technical computing engaged in the modeling and simulation of complex processes, such as ocean modeling, weather forecasting, geophysical processing, aerodynamic simulation, structural analysis, automotive crash testing, computational chemistry, and related fields. The PGI compilers and tools provide a uniformly optimized set of industry-tested development tools for the processors powering computing- intensive hardware platforms and are referenced regularly as the industry standard for performance and reliability. This toolset will greatly benefit ISV's to easily port to and support Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003, Microsoft's HPC solution that will be available in the first half of 2006. Additional features and optimizations included in version 6.1 of PGI Workstation include support for the OpenMP 2.5 parallel programming standard in F95, C and C++, ANSI C99, enhanced auto-parallelization of loops specifically optimized for dual-core processors, enhanced vectorization, numerous optimizations targeted at general-purpose C/C++ applications, enhanced interprocedural analysis, SSE3 instructions support, tuning for non- uniform memory access (NUMA) architectures, target-specific code generator optimizations, expanded compatibility with GNU gcc, and support for the latest Linux distributions including RHEL 4.0, Fedora Core 4, SLES 9, and SUSE 10.0. All features and optimizations are available across multiple operating systems targeting both AMD and Intel x64 processors, and are fully supported on 32-bit x86 processors as well.