Today at Intel’s Software Technology Day in London, Intel engineers provided an update on Intel’s software project – “One API” – to deliver a unified programming model to simplify application development across diverse computing architectures.

Intel’s breadth of architectures span scalar (CPU), vector (GPU), matrix (AI) and spatial (FPGA). These architectures, often referred to at Intel with the acronym SVMS, require an efficient software programming model to deliver performance. One API addresses this while eliminating the need to maintain separate code bases, multiple programming languages, and different tools and workflows.

An example of where Intel provides customers with this cross-architecture capability today is Intel Distribution of OpenVINO toolkit, a software developer toolkit that delivers consistent, optimized deep learning inference capabilities across Intel SVMS architectures.

One API supports direct programming and API programming, and will deliver a unified language and libraries that offer full native code performance across a range of hardware, including CPUs, GPUs, FPGAs and AI accelerators.

One API contains a new direct programming language, Data Parallel C++ (DPC++), an open, cross-industry alternative to single architecture proprietary languages. DPC++ delivers parallel programming productivity and performance using a programming model familiar to developers. DPC++ is based on C++, incorporates SYCL from the Kronos Group and includes language extensions developed in an open community process.

One API’s libraries span several workload domains that benefit from acceleration. Library functions are custom-coded for each target architecture.

Building on analysis tools, Intel will deliver enhanced versions of analysis and debug tools to support DPC++ and the range of SVMS architectures.

Intel will release a developer beta and additional details on the One API project in 2019’s fourth quarter.