AMD teams with Mentor to pursue “Surround Computing”
San Jose, CA. The recognition of a shift in computing paradigm has led AMD to focus on what the company calls “Surround Computing,” according to Kamal Khouri, director of marketing. In an interview at EE Live, he said Surround Computing extends beyond the Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud computing to become a seamless part of everyday life. And Surround Computing applies not just to consumers but also to an assembly-line worker, a person controlling a train track, a doctor in a hospital room, and more.
As machines become more intelligent, the human-machine interface is morphing, he said. He cited an example in which your car navigates you to an ATM while instructing the ATM what transaction you want; the machine authenticates you via facial recognition and dispenses your cash without the need for a card or PIN.
AMD's latest effort with regard to Surround Computing and embedded-system design is the announcement at EE Live of a multiyear agreement with Mentor Graphics to expand availability of open-source embedded Linux development for heterogeneous and multicore processors from AMD. Dedicated to providing embedded developers with a more manageable and focused open source framework, the agreement will provide embedded developers with more supported processor options, robust development tools, and greater speed in open platform development.
Under the agreement, Khouri said, customers obtaining an AMD evaluation board will also receive Mentor tools as well as access to Mentor support. The collaborative effort between AMD and Mentor is not, strictly speaking, an exclusive one (the offerings are Yocto Project-compatible and thus open-source), but, said Khouri, Mentor and AMD R&D teams will be engaging early on.
Kamran Shah, Mentor Graphics embedded software director of marketing, commented at EE Live that “embedded” is an eight-letter word that can mean 800,000 different things. Whatever it means to you, he suggested that HSA enhancements supported under the AMD and Mentor agreement will offer plenty of flexibility without locking you in.
Shah provides elaboration here.
Khouri provides some background on Surround Computing here.