RapidMind

RapidMind Inc. was a privately held Canadian software company founded in 2004 and headquartered in Waterloo, Ontario. It emerged from academic research associated with the Sh project at the University of Waterloo and focused on making parallel computing more accessible to conventional software developers. Its principal offering, the RapidMind Multi-core Development Platform, provided a C++-based programming environment and library model for expressing parallel computations across different types of processors and accelerators. The company addressed a significant software-development challenge created by the move from single-core to multicore computing. Rather than requiring developers to write separate implementations for each target architecture, RapidMind's platform sought to let them describe computations using C++ types and operations that could then be mapped to multicore x86 processors, graphics processing units, and the Cell processor. The platform primarily emphasized data-parallel programming, while also supporting more general task-parallel workloads. GPU execution was supported through OpenCL-related technology. RapidMind received an undisclosed seed financing round at the beginning of 2006 and raised a Canadian Series A round of C$10 million in April 2007. The financing supported the commercialization of its development tools and the expansion of its technology for heterogeneous and parallel computing environments. Publicly available reference material does not establish a broad consumer-facing brand presence; RapidMind was principally an enterprise and developer-technology company. Intel acquired RapidMind on 19 August 2009. Following the acquisition, Intel continued selling the Multi-core Development Platform through 2010 while integrating the RapidMind team and technology into Intel's Intel Ct research project. The combined work was subsequently reflected in Intel Array Building Blocks, introduced in September 2010. RapidMind therefore ceased to operate as an independent company, with its principal technology becoming part of Intel's broader research and software-development efforts.

RapidMind began in 2004 in Waterloo, Ontario, drawing on academic research connected with the Sh project at the University of Waterloo. The company's work addressed the growing difficulty of programming systems with multiple processing units. As multicore CPUs and specialized accelerators became more common, developers increasingly needed tools that could express parallel work without maintaining entirely separate code paths for every processor architecture. RapidMind developed a software platform based on C++ libraries. The platform supplied programming types and operations for describing computations in a form that could be executed across several hardware targets. Its programming model was mainly data parallel, allowing the same operation to be applied across collections of data, but it was general enough to express some task-parallel workloads as well. Supported targets included multicore x86 processors, graphics processing units, and the Cell processor; GPU support used OpenCL-related execution technology. The company obtained an undisclosed seed investment at the beginning of 2006. In April 2007 it raised a C$10 million Series A round. These financings supported the development and commercialization of its Multi-core Development Platform, which was aimed at software developers and organizations needing to exploit parallel hardware without writing low-level, hardware-specific implementations for every target. Intel acquired RapidMind on 19 August 2009. Intel continued to sell RapidMind's primary Multi-core Development Platform through 2010, while the RapidMind team and technology were incorporated into Intel's Intel Ct research project. The results of that combined work were introduced in September 2010 under the name Intel Array Building Blocks. The acquisition ended RapidMind's existence as an independent software company and transferred its technical contribution into Intel's broader research and development program for parallel programming. Because the available reference material is focused on the company's technology and acquisition, details about its customer base, commercial scale, leadership, product pricing, and operations outside Canada are not established here.

1. 2010Technology incorporated into Intel projects

   Intel continued selling the Multi-core Development Platform through 2010 and incorporated RapidMind's team and technology into Intel Ct; related results were introduced as Intel Array Building Blocks in September.

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2. 2009Acquisition by Intel

   Intel acquired RapidMind on 19 August 2009.

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3. 2007Series A financing

   RapidMind raised C$10 million in a Canadian Series A financing round.

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4. 2006Seed financing

   The company received a seed financing round; the amount is not identified in the available reference material.

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5. 2004RapidMind is founded

   RapidMind was established in Waterloo, Ontario, based on academic research associated with the University of Waterloo's Sh project.

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RapidMind positioned itself as a developer-technology company simplifying the creation of parallel software for multicore CPUs, GPUs, and other accelerators through a unified C++ programming model.

• RapidMind Multi-core Development PlatformParallel-computing development platform

  RapidMind's principal software product was a C++-based development platform for expressing parallel computations. It exposed libraries containing types and operations that developers could use to describe data-parallel work, while supporting sufficiently general constructs for some task-parallel applications. The platform targeted multicore x86 processors, GPUs through OpenCL-related support, and the Cell processor. Its central value proposition was to reduce the need for separate, hardware-specific implementations when developing software for heterogeneous computing environments.

• 2010Transition from standalone platform to Intel research technologyStrategy

  Following the acquisition, Intel had to determine how to commercialize and incorporate RapidMind's programming technology within its own parallel-computing initiatives.

  What changed. Intel maintained sales of the RapidMind Multi-core Development Platform through 2010 while combining the team and technology with Intel Ct.

  Aftermath. The combined work contributed to Intel Array Building Blocks, introduced in September 2010, and RapidMind no longer operated as an independent brand.

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• 2009Intel acquisition of RapidMindM&A

  RapidMind developed software intended to simplify programming for multicore processors and accelerators, an area relevant to Intel's interest in parallel and heterogeneous computing.

  What changed. Intel acquired RapidMind on 19 August 2009 and assumed control of its team and technology.

  Aftermath. Intel continued selling the Multi-core Development Platform through 2010 and integrated the RapidMind work into the Intel Ct research project. Related results were introduced as Intel Array Building Blocks in September 2010.

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• 2010Intel integrates RapidMind technology into Intel Ct research

  After the acquisition, RapidMind's technology was integrated into Intel's Intel Ct research project, with results introduced as Intel Array Building Blocks in September 2010.

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• 2009Intel acquires RapidMind

  Intel acquired RapidMind on 19 August 2009, bringing the company's team and parallel-computing technology into Intel's research and software organization.

  M&A
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• 2007RapidMind raises C$10 million Series A financing

  RapidMind completed a Canadian Series A financing round of C$10 million to support its software platform for multicore and accelerator programming.

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1. RapidMind