Bristol tech firms are being invited to join major industry names such as Intel and Huawei at an upcoming conference in the city which will highlight the latest advancements in multicore – the technology integral to the development of cutting-edge innovations such as autonomous cars, robots and next-generation mobile phones.
Now in its fifth successful year, the Multicore Challenge conference embraces the challenges and opportunities in building products based on multiple cores of CPUs (central processing units). 
The event is sponsored by Invest Bristol & Bath, the region’s inward investment agency, and organised by Bristol-based TVS, the leader in software test and hardware verification, and takes place at UWE in Bristol next Tuesday, September 23.
Speakers include Bill Lynch, vice president, engineering, at Chinese telecoms giant Huawei; David Stuttard, of Intel, one of the world’s largest and highest-valued semiconductor chip makers, Tom Edwards, on behalf of Cray, the global leader in supercomputing, and Jim Whittaker, executive vice president, MIPS, at Imagination Technologies, which supplies graphic and video technology to companies including Apple.
Almost all devices used in modern life are likely to end up being based on multicore technology – if they aren’t already – as part of a drive towards achieving better performance using less power. Multicore technology is already used widely in devices ranging from mobile phones and PCs to supercomputers.
TVS chief executive Mike Bartley said: “The calibre of the keynote presenters at this year’s event confirms the UK’s position as one of the world’s top locations for multicore research and development.
“These keynotes, plus the day’s other thought-provoking talks and demos on the themes of languages, architectures and mobile, help to explain why the Multicore Challenge has become the leading forum for discussing the latest multicore developments and the ideal opportunity to network with like-minded experts.”
Invest Bristol & Bath hi-tech sector specialist Rick Chapman added: “The Bristol and Bath region is at the heart of a thriving cluster of world-class multicore expertise, built on its unique and rich heritage in engineering, making it the ideal place to host the Multicore Challenge conference.
“The region’s micro-chip design hub the most respected outside Silicon Valley, while Bristol and Bath’s hi-tech cluster was the only one of its kind to be recognised as ‘fast-growing’ and ‘globally-significant’ in a recent, influential Centre for Cities/McKinsey & Co report. It is this far-reaching reputation that has attracted a string of global tech players, including Huawei, a speaker at the conference, to our region in the last few months.”
This year’s Multicore Challenge conference covers three main themes of multicore: architectures, languages and multicore for mobile.
Steve Felix of Nvidia will chair the mobile track with speakers from Gamebench, Imagination and Bristol start-up Blu Wireless. Professor David May and Simon McIntosh-Smith of Bristol University will lead the themes and tracks on architectures and languages respectively, with industry expert Simon Knowles, who recently joined Bristol-based semiconductor company XMOS – which was launched by Prof May – featuring in the architectures track.
