Kilocore was a high-performance, low-power
multi-core
A multi-core processor is a microprocessor on a single integrated circuit with two or more separate processing units, called cores, each of which reads and executes program instructions. The instructions are ordinary CPU instructions (such a ...
microprocessor
A microprocessor is a computer processor where the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit, or a small number of integrated circuits. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, and control circu ...
that has 1,025 cores designed by
Rapport Inc. and
IBM and announced in 2006. Rapport was a California
fabless
Fabless manufacturing is the design and sale of hardware devices and semiconductor chips while outsourcing their fabrication (or ''fab'') to a specialized manufacturer called a semiconductor foundry. These foundries are typically, but not exclus ...
semiconductor company founded in 2001 and dissolved in 2009.
Kilocore contained a single
PowerPC
PowerPC (with the backronym Performance Optimization With Enhanced RISC – Performance Computing, sometimes abbreviated as PPC) is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architecture (ISA) created by the 1991 Apple Inc., App ...
processing core, and 1,024 eight-bit Processing Elements running at 125 MHz each, which could be dynamically reconfigured, connected by a shared interconnect. It allows high performance
parallel processing.
Rapport's first product to market was the KC256, with 256 8-bit processing elements. The KC256 started shipping in 2006. The elements were grouped in 16 "stripes" of 16 processing elements each, with each stripe able to be dedicated to a particular task.
The "thousand core" products were planned to be the KC1024 and KC1025, due in 2008. Both would have 1024 8-bit processing elements, in a 32 x 32-stripe configuration. The KC1025 has the PowerPC CPU, while the KC1024 has processing elements only.
IBM said that the Kilocore1025 will enable "streaming live- and high-definition video on a low-power,
mobile device
A mobile device (or handheld computer) is a computer small enough to hold and operate in the hand. Mobile devices typically have a flat LCD or OLED screen, a touchscreen interface, and digital or physical buttons. They may also have a physical ...
at 5 to 10 times the speed of existing processors."
Despite raising an additional $18.5 million in 2008,
the company dissolved before Kilocore came to market.
References
External links
ZDNet
Manycore processors
PowerPC microprocessors
{{Compu-hardware-stub