Meet the Consortium: University of Manchester

The University of Manchester is one of the largest institutions in the UK and a proud member of the prestigious Russell Group. It has a rich history of pioneering advancements in Computer Science, including the development of the world’s first stored-program computer and the groundbreaking Atlas computer, renowned for introducing virtual memory and spearheading the era of supercomputing. At the forefront of cutting-edge research within the Computer Science department is the Advanced Processor Technologies group (APT), the largest research group, dedicated to high-performance computing, parallel processing, and innovative processor designs. 

What is your organization’s role in the project? What unique contribution does it bring to the team? 

The University of Manchester brings the state-of-the-art in-house TornadoVM technology to enhance the performance of the INCODE use cases and the developers’ productivity during their development. TornadoVM is a JVM plugin that enables the acceleration of Java methods on multi-core CPUs, GPUs and FPGAs from a wide range of vendors. Noteworthy aspects of TornadoVM include its lightweight API, platform agnosticism and dynamic runtime optimizations, empowering users to maximize the potential of their target devices. Presently, TornadoVM supports three backends: OpenCL, CUDA and SPIR-V. 

Why is this project important for your organization?  

The diversity of the INCODE use cases offers the University of Manchester an opportunity to mature TornadoVM and delve into a plethora of exciting new applications. 

Learn more on manchester.ac.uk