AMD today announced a new set of software development tools and solutions for developers, which will assist them in optimising their applications for OpenCL standards.

According to the company these advanced tools will enable software companies to employ the full potential of the AMD Fusion Family of Accelerated Processing Units (APUs).

This is because it’ll allow them to harness the combined compute power of AMD’s high-performance CPUs and GPUs, across a wide array of heterogeneous computing platforms. As a result, developers can create innovative experiences the likes of HD videos, 3D games, video conferencing and intuitive user interfaces.

Among the new offerings is the gDEBugger product, created by AMD’s new Israeli research center. This gDEBugger is an advanced OpenCL and OpenGL debugger, profiler and memory analyser.

It allows developers to debug OpenCL kernels, running on AMD GPUs, and step through their source code whilst examining kernel variables and data. This product, which is a plug-in designed to work with Microsoft Visual Studio, includes all of gDEBugger’s previous features and capabilities.

“AMD is working closely with the developer community to make it easier to bring the benefits of heterogeneous computing to consumers, enabling next-generation system features like vivid video, supercomputer-like performance and enhanced battery life,” said Manju Hegde, corporate vice president, AMD Fusion Experience Program.

“Our advanced developer tools and solutions enable a new era of parallel programming that’s based on industry standards and focused on delivering innovative user experiences that span a variety of computing form factors.”

Additional developer solutions include a Parallel Path Analyzer (PPA), Global Memory for Accelerators (GMAC) and Task Manager tools, developed by Multicoreware in collaboration with AMD. These new tools and solutions, expected to be available in Beta during Q3 of this year, are designed to make OpenCL GPU development easier and more efficient.

New toolset breakdown:

• Parallel Path Analyzer (PPA): an advanced profiling tool for developing applications that optimise both GPU and CPU load. The PPA visualizes data transfers and kernel execution, identifies system-wide critical paths and locates data dependencies.
• The Global Memory for Accelerators (GMAC) API: provides a framework in which developers can create applications leveraging the immense compute capabilities of OpenCL, but without the overhead of having to explicitly manage multiple data buffers across the separate address spaces of GPU and CPU.
• The Task Manager API: provides a framework for managing compute tasks in a heterogeneous multi-core environment. OpenCL kernels can be automatically scheduled to execute on an available and task-appropriate device, providing dynamic load balancing, optimizing use of available compute resources and removing the burden of explicit schedule handling.

Developers will be able to learn more about AMD’s comprehensive set of software tools and solutions at the AMD Fusion Developer Summit, which kicks off today in Bellevue, Washington.

AMD also recently reintroduced its FX-branded product range that is targeted at gamers as well as multimedia enthusiast.