Intel has unveiled its Software Partner Programme locally. The online open source initiative provides software developers with a free portfolio of tools they can use to improve the quality of locally-developed software.
Mark Doyle is director of Intel`s Global Programme Expansion, a project that aims to drive and market the Software Partner Programme and engage with high-growth areas of software development, such as SA. According to Doyle, the Global Programme Expansion`s goal is to introduce the Software Partner Programme in the right places at the right time.
He says the challenge is to optimise and streamline software development when working with multi-core processors, as well as design an application that can work as effectively on a desktop PC as on a smaller mobile device.
"We expect at least 100 South African companies to register for this programme. Software developers have the opportunity to really make their applications shine."
Doyle says the suite of software development tools, provided by the site, is used to help applications benefit from multi-threading (the act of enabling code for multi-core architecture).
"This collection of portfolio of tools is purposefully assembled around target technology areas like multi-core, mobility, virtualisation and graphics, so that when a software company engages with a program, it`s clear what needs to be done and how they can do it."
According to Doyle, software development is growing rapidly because development models are becoming more accessible, with more people having the ability to code and launch applications.
Growing opportunities
"Technology is becoming a core educational and investment foundation. The opportunities to enhance life via software are increasing."
The software solution and training programme is open to independent software vendors, software companies, as well as individuals.
Wolfgang Petersen, director of Intel`s Developer Relation Division for Europe, Middle East and Africa, predicts that, in the next five years, the software market is going to see a huge boom in software developing growth. He believes developers need to modernise their thinking to stay on top of their competitors in a growing multi-core infrastructure industry.
"Programmers need to know how to program in this new multi-core environment, especially with emerging technologies. Software developers coming out of university may have trained to engineer programs only on a single core and now IT infrastructure is moving to multi-core processing. One of the best ways to address this need is by offering free training and resources through the Web."
Petersen says once developers register on the site, they will get the benefits of the programme, which includes software tools, information resources, code sampling, parallelisation tools and a networking and training forum.
Devan Naidoo, Intel`s SA country manager, points out that the initiative has existed for two years in the US and, after being released in SA, it is hoped it will drive software development to other parts of Africa.
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