Study shows: Unified programming model saves time and money

New computing accelerators are emerging rapidly, and organizations need to consider the time and economics of developing performance-sensitive applications that can run on new and existing computing platforms. A recent report commissioned by Intel and conducted by J.Gold Associates, "oneAPI: Providing Software Abstraction for a Heterogeneous Computing World," explores the importance of application portability, the need for enterprises to transform to a cross-architecture model that integrates multiple computing accelerators, and insights into oneAPI 's open cross-architecture development process.

“A variety of accelerated processors are emerging at an unprecedented rate, but their power can only be realized when the application development model ensures maximum compatibility and flexibility for a wider range of application workloads,” said Jack Gold of J.Gold Associates. “A cross-architecture model like oneAPI gives developers the assurance that performance-sensitive applications can be ported to emerging acceleration platforms without rewriting the application code.”

This survey report uses examples to demonstrate typical application development and the subsequent process of porting developed applications to new hardware accelerators for use, providing clear guidance for enterprises and developers to transition to the use of oneAPI. The report also details why now is the best time to unify programming under the irreversible trend of porting to dedicated accelerators; and analyzes the cost and time benefits of writing applications that are compatible with multiple computing devices and avoiding being restricted to a single architecture and a single manufacturer.

The survey report highlights:

Data-centric workloads and the architectures that best handle them are more diverse.

Using a cross-architecture model for application development can save organizations significant time and money every time they port performance-sensitive applications to new computing platforms. In one reported instance, the time savings exceeded five months and cost savings reached $300,000.

The oneAPI industry initiative aims to enable a new generation of application development through an open, cross-industry approach, helping developers increase productivity without compromising application performance. 

With the emergence and development of various hardware accelerators, heterogeneous computing is on the rise. Organizations can save time and cost by using a unified programming model to port existing code. oneAPI is a cross-industry, open, and standards-based unified programming model that provides a unified experience for developers across CPUs, GPUs, FPGAs, and dedicated accelerators. The oneAPI open specification is based on industry standards and existing developer programming models and is widely applicable to different architectures and hardware from different vendors. The oneAPI industry program encourages collaboration within the ecosystem based on the oneAPI specification and oneAPI-compatible practices.