Boost your competitive position by threading your applications for maximum performance on multi-core processors. Get the help you need through the Intel® Software Partner Program.

The processor landscape is shifting to multi-core processors, such as the Intel® Core™2 Duo processor. But what does multi-core mean to you and your business? If you reconfigure your application to take advantage of the parallel-processing capabilities of today’s multi-core processors, your customers will enjoy increased multi-tasking performance. The Intel® Software Partner Program can help you thread your way to success, from business planning to product development, and ultimately, marketing and sales.

The computer industry is moving to multi-core processing—putting multiple processing cores, or "brains," on a single chip. But what is the impact of multi-core processors on software, and why should software companies care?

Optimizing your software for Intel® multi-core platforms will deliver new levels of efficiency to users of both server and client computers in consumer and business environments. Multi-core processors can run multiple software threads in parallel to help users get more done faster. For example, a gamer can enjoy more realistic, responsive play while also downloading songs and cruising through MySpace. A financial analyst can perform massive number-crunching while also running a customer relationship management application and security applications in the background—all with split-second responsiveness. Since computer users today typically do multiple things at once and want their computers to think as fast as they do, multi-core is all about multi-tasking mastery.

"Efficient threading unleashes the power of the Intel® Core™2 Duo and the Intel® Core™2 Extreme quad-core processors, allowing increasingly scalable and realistic physical effects and credible character animation," says David Coghlan, Vice President of Development for Havok. "Multi-core technology computing gives truly impressive performance enhancement to PC gamers."

It’s a huge selling point to have your application threaded to take advantage of multi-core parallelism. The sooner you get to market with threaded versions of your software, the more competitive you’ll be. How do you get started? We’re glad you asked.

The Intel® Software Partner Program can help you make a fast, painless move to multi-core. We can help you thread your way to success at every stage, from initial planning through product development and on to marketing and sales.

The first step is to join a partner initiative or the multi-core technology-enabling project. Multi-core-focused initiatives include gaming, collaboration, creative media, financial services, and small-medium business. Once enrolled, you will get an advance look at Intel’s multi-core roadmap, which will enable you to coordinate your own development schedules with Intel’s and have optimized applications ready for market when Intel announces each new processor generation.

"By understanding Intel’s technology roadmap, we can better plan our releases to synchronize with Intel’s efforts and take advantage of Intel’s marketing efforts," says Shafi Ahamed, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Bangalore-based management software company Tecknodreams. Adds Michael Queralt of Queralt LLC, "[Intel platform roadmaps] gave us great information to prepare our plan."

The Intel Software Partner Program can also help with the actual work of threading your application. Key resources at this stage include the Threading for Multi-core Developer Community, an online community where developers come together to share questions and challenges, learn from Intel experts, get development tips, and generally shortcut their learning curve. Through this community, you can join forums about technical topics such as parallel-processing and compiler optimization. You can read and participate in wikis and blogs. You can take online training, find a wealth of resources, and get early access to technical development kits.

"Membership in the Intel Software Partner Program saved us two to three months of development time; without it, we would have had to comb the Web looking for information," says Ahamed of Tecknodreams.

You also have access to exclusive benefits, such as 15% rebates on qualifying development system purchases to help you reduce your development costs.

Once your application is threaded, you can take advantage of a wealth of marketing and sales resources available to program members. Select from collateral templates, customized direct-mail campaigns, marketing demo systems, and listing in the Intel® Developer Solutions Catalog. This catalog is a “who’s who” of companies developing leading-edge software for Intel platforms.

"[The Intel® Developer Solutions Catalog] has created visibility and demand for our company and products, in addition to reducing our marketing costs," says Ali Abedinzadeh of Samaneh System. Adds Tamas Kozak of Invictus Games, "[Visibility in the Solutions Catalog makes it] easier to convince game publishers about the range of compatibility and performance quality of our games."

Once you’re listed in the Intel Developer Solutions Catalog, you’re eligible for listing in the Channel Marketplace, Intel’s online storefront for resellers. Here, resellers can learn about your software and join forces with you to offer complete hardware-software solutions to their customers. Both of these resources are translated into multiple languages and give your company increased visibility in markets throughout the world.

As you can see, you’ll have plenty of help—and plenty of motivation—to thread your applications for multi-core. Get started today!