Enhancements in MATLAB and DCT Increase Data Set Handling

By DE Editors

MATLAB from The MathWorks (Natick, MA) now includes support for multithreaded computation for multicore systems and 64-bit Solaris platforms. Distributing Computing Toolbox (DCT) now offers capabilities for developing applications that interleave parallel and serial code and interactively prototyping parallel algorithms on a desktop computer by running four local MATLAB sessions.

Now engineers and scientists, who need to model increasingly complex systems in less time, can develop parallel applications independently of the resources that are available for execution. With MATLAB and Distributed Computing Toolbox, they can prototype parallel applications on their multicore desktop computers using up to four processors and four MATLAB sessions. For more computing power, these applications can scale to a computer cluster without any code change by using the MATLAB Distributed Computing Engine. The applications can include serial code that is executed in the desktop machine.

With the multithreading feature, MATLAB applications using element-wise and linear algebra functions can take advantage of multicore machines by running multiple threads simultaneously for improved performance. Lastly, with 64-bit Solaris support, engineers using MATLAB can also leverage the benefits of 64-bit computing to develop applications involving large data sets and computationally intensive tasks.

MATLAB 7.5 is available for the Microsoft Windows, Solaris, Linux, and Macintosh platforms. U.S. list prices for MATLAB start at $1,900. Distributed Computing Toolbox 3.2 is available for the Microsoft Windows, Solaris, Linux, and Macintosh platforms. U.S. list prices start at $1,000.

The MathWorks also announced a new version of SystemTest, its test management and analysis software for system verification and validation. Using SystemTest 2, HPC speeds system simulation and testing, enabling engineers to automatically distribute independent tests or simulation runs of Simulink models to multiple processors, without requiring manual coding. SystemTest 2 works seamlessly with Distributed Computing Toolbox, also from The MathWorks. The enhancements in SystemTest 2 dramatically reduce the time needed for testing, leading to faster production of high-quality system designs. SystemTest 2 is available immediately on Microsoft Windows, Linux, and Macintosh platforms. U.S. list price starts at $2,000.

For further information, go to The MathWorks.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company's website.