Intel launches software for Apple developers to boost performance

Intel today announced new software development tools and resources through its Intel Software Network. These tools and resources will help Apple developers take advantage of Intel Core Duo processor technologies to maximize application performance on the new Intel-based Mac platforms.

The special beta versions of the Intel Fortran Compiler, Intel C++ Compiler, Intel Math Kernel Library and Intel Integrated Performance Primitives are available now. Intel will also provide other resources to assist with software optimization, dual core threading and migration information.

These development tools are integrated into Apple's Xcode development environment and offer an alternative to existing tools and compilers. The Intel Fortran compiler enables the scientific and technical community to bring the fastest versions of their applications to Mac OS X and Intel-based Mac platforms using industry-standard math libraries and language. The Intel C++ Compiler provides the ability for Xcode users to apply targeted optimizations to performance-sensitive areas of their applications, allowing them to get the most out of the Intel Core Duo processor.

Intel augments these compilers with advanced support for threading through OpenMP and auto-parallelism capabilities. The Intel Math Kernel Library (Intel MKL) is a set of highly optimized mathematical routines designed for engineering, science, and financial applications that require maximum performance on Intel processors. The Intel Integrated Performance Primitives (Intel IPP) is a software library of highly optimized functions for multimedia, audio, video, speech, computer vision, image and signal processing.

Based on Intel's proven suite of software development products for other platforms, each product has been transitioned to Mac OS X's Xcode development environment to ensure complete fidelity with other Intel platforms, giving Mac OS X developers a familiar base to use Intel's powerful development tools.

The suite of development tools from Intel will be available for purchase in the second quarter of 2006, and are now available for free trial in the special beta program.

"We have seen exceptional results during our thorough testing of the beta versions of the Intel compilers for Mac OS X," said Jeff Livesay, Absoft Corporation's chief operating officer. "Absoft will bundle market-proven capabilities for Apple developers, including our Fx2 Debugger, with Intel Fortran and C++ compilers and libraries as part of our efforts, together with Intel, to deliver strong support for software developers. Scientists can expect great things from these new platforms."