FixStars Joins SpursEngine Partners: Specialized in multi- core processor, Cell/B.E., and relevant businesses
FixStars Joins SpursEngine Partners:
Specialized in multi- core processor, Cell/B.E., and relevant businesses
FixStars, a start-up company that has been focusing its operational resources on the software development of Cell/B.E., participates in SpursEngine Partners and starts developing middleware for SpursEngine. Mr. Shigehiro Kobayashi, General Manager of the Solution Service Division, Embedded Solution Department, says, “We focus on businesses involving multi-core processors, namely Cell/B.E. and SpursEngine. We would like to offer SpursEngine business as one of the Cell-related solutions" (Figure 1).
Fixstars was founded in August 2002, and has 76 employees, about 80 percent of whom are engineers involved in Cell/B.E. businesses. Mr.Kobayashi emphasizes the company's uniqueness: "Even in the world, it is only Fixstars that is focused on Cell/B/E. and related processors to offer solution businesses as a software start-up."
In addition to software development, they offer an acceleration board system powered by Cell/B.E., called "GigaAccel 180" (Figure 2). They provide comprehensive services required for use of Cell/B.E. or SpursEngine, from hardware sales to software development and consulting. For example, Fixstars say they recently offered Cell/B.E. software for derivative trades at Mizuho Securities, achieving more than an order of magnitude faster processing speed than before.
Implemented the gesture interface software in Qosmio with SpursEngine
FixStars was engaged in the development of the software from an early stage of the SpursEngine development. The company was in charge of the implementation of the gesture interface ("hand gesture remote control" in Japanese) software built in Toshiba's Qosmio notebook PC.
"The software structure differs significantly between SpursEngine and Cell/B.E, so that is where we had the toughest time. In the case of Cell, a piece of code concludes in a single processor (with no other chips). On the other hand, SpursEngine is used as an accelerator chip on an expansion board inserted to a PCI Express slot of the PC with the host CPU chip. We need to take into consideration the timing of data transfer, for example. Therefore, we need to alter the software structure. Moreover, it was often difficult to develop software under circumstances where the development environment was adequately available. As to the multi-core programming for SpursEngine, our experiences with Cell/B.E. paid off," says Mr. Kobayashi, recalling the earlier days of development.
Currently, the host processor of a SpursEngine system is an Intel x86 type, and the OS is Windows. In the future, there is a movement to support Linux, and FixStars takes charge of a part of the development, too. "It is not really difficult to port the SpursEngine code to Linux by itself. We do need to rewrite the (device) driver code, but not the entire software. That is because of SpursEngine’s architecture that takes account of multi-platform from the design phase." (Mr. Kobayashi)
FixStars expands software business based on their experiences of the software development for SpursEngine. The company wants to develop their own-brand product, too, in the future. "We are considering applications involving video images. The attractiveness of SpursEngine lies in the on-chip encoder/decoder hardware for MPEG-2 and H.264 as well as the versatility provided by the SPE (Synergistic Processor Element) cores. SpursEngine is suitable for capturing video, decoding it, processing in some ways, and then encoding it." (Mr. Kobayashi)
FixStars aims to provide their customers with total solutions for SpursEngine by collaborating with hardware companies. They joined the SpursEngine Partners in this July. Fixstars is actively engaged in SpursEngine business as the company has started a campaign where they offer complimentary consulting and algorithm evaluation for SpursEngine - compatible software development.
Related Information: Application Porting Service for SpursEngine
