Safe and Scalable Multicore Computing
Request for Proposals 2008

Background

“Multicore: This is the one which will have the biggest impact on us. We have never had a problem to solve like this. A breakthrough is needed in how applications are done on multicore devices.” – Bill Gates

“It’s time we rethought some of the basics of computing. It’s scary and lots of fun at the same time.” – Burton Smith

The emergence of multicore/manycore architectures and the expected rapid growth in the number of cores per chip is changing the landscape of computing. Conventional wisdom holds that the number of cores per chip will double with each new generation, per-core performance is leveling off and may in fact decline, and general purpose computing is making the irreversible transition to parallel architectures. Meanwhile, other processing units such as manycore GPU’s are delivering tremendous computing power and presenting additional opportunities for next-generation systems and applications.

These fundamental shifts require a rethinking of the abstractions and mechanisms used to build and run applications and systems. It is not clear that the current tools, methods, and infrastructure can support composing and running safe and scalable concurrent software. New concurrent runtimes and operating systems, transactional memory, heterogeneous multiprocessing, parallel programming languages, cooperative resource management, virtualization, and speculative execution are among the many areas deserving attention.

Goals & Objectives

The Safe and Scalable Multicore Computing RFP will fund three-year research projects in the area of multicore computing. This worldwide RFP seeks to stimulate and enable bold, substantial, and impactful research in multicore software, breakthrough research which rethinks the relationships between computer architecture, operating systems, runtimes, compilers, and applications, and which proposes new mechanisms and paradigms that will lead to safe and scalable concurrent systems and applications, focusing on mainstream “client” platforms.

Obvious questions include:

• How should systems, languages, and tools evolve to enable applications, both new and legacy, to exploit multicore architectures?
• How should applications, runtimes, and the operating environment coordinate to achieve optimal scalability, performance, and resource utilization? What new models of resource management and scheduling are required?
• How should increased numbers of (possibly heterogeneous) processing units be combined into scalable and high-performance systems, and how will operating systems manage such systems?
• How do programming languages and compiler technology need to evolve in order to support the development of applications for emerging highly parallel architectures? Similarly, how must tools evolve to support the design, development, debugging, execution, and tuning of concurrent applications?

This list of questions should only be considered a general guideline of possible directions that projects may take. Microsoft is keen to consider additional complementary research themes and innovative new research directions for funding under this RFP.

In support of this RFP, Microsoft is making the Singularity and Phoenix technical assets available to researchers. While respondents are encouraged to explore the utility of these technology frameworks in their proposed research projects, their use is not a requirement under this RFP.

Singularity is a Microsoft Research project focused on the construction of dependable systems through innovation in the areas of systems, languages, and tools. The Singularity team is building a research operating system prototype (called Singularity), extending existing programming languages, and developing new techniques and tools for specifying and verifying program behavior. The paper “Singularity: Rethinking the Software Stack” by Galen Hunt and Jim Larus provides a concise introduction to the project. Source code for Singularity is available for research projects funded under this RFP.

Phoenix is a software optimization and analysis framework that is the basis for all future Microsoft compiler technologies. The Phoenix framework is an extensible system that can be adapted to read and write binaries and MSIL assemblies and to represent the input files in an IR, which can be analyzed and manipulated by applications using the Phoenix API. Code can then be written in binary or JITable form for execution. The Phoenix SDK is freely available for use in research.

Awards

The total amount available under this request for proposals (RFP) is $1,500,000. Microsoft Research anticipates making approximately nine awards averaging $166,000, with a maximum of $330,000 for any single award. All awards will be made in $US and will be paid in three annual installments. Awards are generally made as unrestricted gifts to the institution. Outside the United States other local restrictions may apply to the terms of the award. For current policy regarding non-U.S. countries, please refer to http://research.microsoft.com/ur/us/fundingopps/faq.aspx.

For all awards, payment of indirect costs (“overhead”) is not permitted.

Microsoft Research will take into account the reasonableness of the amount requested in any proposal in light of stated deliverables, local costs, etc., and reserves the right to fund proposals at an amount lower than requested if appropriate.

It is important to understand that project funding will continue beyond the amount awarded under this RFP only in exceptional circumstances, and that the principal investigators should therefore make every effort to leverage Microsoft Research funds as one component of a diverse funding base in a larger or longer-running project.

Eligibility

Conditions of eligibility listed below will be strictly adhered to, so please read them carefully. Proposals not meeting all these criteria will not be considered.

Conditions of eligibility listed below will be strictly adhered to, so please read them carefully. Proposals not meeting all these criteria will not be considered.

1. The proposing institution must be either:
   1. An accredited degree-granting college or university (or international equivalent) with non-profit status and awarding degrees at the baccalaureate level or above.
   2. A research institution with non-profit status.
2. All qualifying institutions are eligible without regard for geographic location.
3. Collaborative proposals embracing multiple groups across an institution are encouraged. Multi-institution collaborative proposals are welcome, and will be treated as a single proposal sharing a single award.
4. Proposals that are incomplete, inaccurate, request funds in excess of the maximum award available, or are otherwise not responsive to the stated aims, terms and conditions of this RFP will, at the sole discretion of Microsoft Research, be excluded from consideration.
5. Proposals from or on behalf of persons participating in the evaluation process for this RFP will not be considered.
6. Proposals should evidence a commitment to make all results arising from a funded project (including all intellectual property in those results) broadly available by either: (i) dedicating such results to the public domain; or (ii) making the results available under a non-restrictive license that allows modification and redistribution without any significant restrictions or conditions, including so-called “reach through” provisions that require publication of source code. An example of an acceptable license is the BSD license available at http://www.opensource.org/licenses/bsd-license.html, whereas the widely-used GPL and LGPL licenses are not acceptable. Further details of the Microsoft position on open source are available at http://www.microsoft.com/resources/sharedsource/Articles/MicrosoftandOpenSource.mspx
7. Proposals should evidence willingness to contribute any resulting curriculum material to the MSDN Academic Alliance Repository at http://www.msdnaacr.net/curriculum/facetmain.aspx.
8. The receiving institution must agree that awards made as unrestricted gifts, will not be subject to indirect costs or overhead charges and these may not be included in the budget for the proposed project.
9. While the use of Microsoft technologies is not a condition of this RFP, any proposal relying exclusively on non-Microsoft technologies should provide a justification for why this must be the case. Please note that ordinary use of Microsoft Office applications will not be compelling in itself, although innovative uses of Office applications (or the use of applications such as SQL Server, Visual Studio, C#, .NET and Windows Presentation Foundation) are acceptable and encouraged. We are not able to provide support for the development of exclusively Java or LINUX-based applications. Use of non-Microsoft applications on Windows, cross-platform development, and interoperability with other operating systems and applications are all encouraged.
10. Awardees will be expected to participate in a workshop to share research outcomes enabled by this award with the other RFP awardees and with Microsoft. The cost of travel to Redmond, WA, USA, should be included in your project budget.

Submission Process

Proposals will be accepted in electronic form only at http://microsoft.redwhale.com. Proposals submitted to Microsoft Research will not be returned. Microsoft Research cannot assume responsibility for the confidentiality of information in submitted proposals. Therefore, proposals should not contain information that is confidential, restricted or sensitive. Microsoft Research reserves the right to make public proposals that receive awards, except those portions containing budgetary or personally identifiable information.

The submission process includes two parts.

1. Brief summary and contact information. Applicants must provide full contact information for principal investigators, amount requested and a brief abstract. This information will be submitted through a web form as part of the submission process.
2. Complete proposal containing full detail on the proposed project. 7 pages maximum, 10pt. font or larger, double-spaced, in either Microsoft Word or PDF format.

Proposals should address each of the items listed below under separate numbered headings.

1. Problem Statement: What is the problem or curriculum area addressed by the proposal and why is it important? What is the potential contribution to the field of the project if successful? Cite relevant work in the field as appropriate.
2. Expected outcomes: What tangible assets, if any, will be created or produced as a result of the proposed project? How will the results of this project be disseminated to others?
3. Schedule: When is the project to be completed? What milestones will be used to measure progress of the project and when will they be completed? (If the project described is part of a larger ongoing research program, estimate the time for completion of this project only).
4. Use of Funds: Provide a detailed three-year budget ($US) describing how the award will be used, including purchases of hardware or software, salaries, and other costs. RFP awards will be paid out in three annual installments. Microsoft software or licenses requested should be listed in the budget, but the cost should be given as zero dollars. The budget does not have to be detailed, and should be presented as a table with the total budget request clearly indicated. Please note that, because awards are made as unrestricted gifts, Microsoft policy prohibits the payment of indirect cost (“overhead”).
5. Use of Microsoft Technologies: Describe the Microsoft tools and technologies (if any) to be used in this project. If software is to be developed, give details of the tools to be used, the number of software developers and the proposed timescale. Does the software to be developed require the incorporation of code from commercial or public-domain libraries? If so, please give details.
6. Related Research: Give a brief summary of the current state of the art in this field, including references where appropriate.
7. Dissemination and Evaluation: How will the results of this project be evaluated (if appropriate), and how will they be disseminated to others? Under what general license terms will the results be made available?
8. Other Support: Including other contributions to this project (cash, goods or services), if any, but not including such things as use of university facilities otherwise provided on an ongoing basis. Please note: authors of winning proposals will be required to submit an original letter on department letterhead certifying the commitment of any additional or matching support described in the proposal.
9. Qualifications of Principal Investigator: Include a brief description of any relevant prior research, teaching, publication or other professional experience. A detailed vita or list of publications is not required.
10. Please do not submit any confidential materials to Microsoft.

Selection Process and Criteria

All proposals received will be reviewed by Microsoft Research and eligible proposals will be evaluated by a panel of subject-matter experts chosen by Microsoft Research. Based on evaluations by the review panel, Microsoft Research will select the most worthy proposals for funding. Microsoft Research reserves the right to fund winning proposals at an amount greater or less than the amount requested, up to the stated maximum amount for individual awards. Due to the volume of submissions, Microsoft Research cannot provide individual feedback on proposals that are not funded.

1. Authors (including co-investigators) of winning proposals will be required to grant Microsoft permission for the use of their name, image, institutional affiliation and related professional information in press releases or other forums for publication of their award. Microsoft Research may also request assistance with the preparation of posters, slides or other materials, and periodic reports on the status of funded projects.

All proposals will be evaluated based upon the following criteria:

1. Well-defined goals and objectives that, if achieved, have the potential to have a significant impact in the areas of operating systems, compilers, runtimes, and/or parallel computing. These goals must be achievable within the timescale of the funded project, and where appropriate placed into the context of milestones in a larger or longer-running project.
2. Potential for wide dissemination and use of intellectual property created, including specific plans for publications, conference presentations, distance learning, etc., as well as plans to distribute content in multiple formats or languages.
3. Ability to complete the project including the adequacy of resources available, reasonableness of timelines, and number and qualifications of identified contributors.
4. Qualifications of principal investigator including previous history of work in the area, successful completion of previous funded projects, teaching awards, books published, etc.
5. Use of Microsoft tools and technologies: proposals should clearly indicate the Microsoft tools and technologies to be used in the project, or if no such technologies can be used, a clear statement should be made why this is the case.
6. Leveraging of other resources: preferential consideration will be given to proposals utilizing additional sources of funding to build larger or longer-running projects and/or leveraging other projects or resources in the field.

Schedule and Deadlines

Please be advised that we are obligated to strictly adhere to the deadline date and time. The application system will not accept submissions after the deadline has expired. Exceptions to this policy cannot be granted. It is advisable to upload your submission well in advance of the deadline.

Additional Resources

In addition to fiscal support, all award recipients will be eligible to license the source code to the Microsoft Research Singularity project, as described above. Research proposals are encouraged to utilize referenced Microsoft resources and platforms. While use and fluency with Microsoft platforms is among the selection criteria, platform selections are not a condition for eligibility.

Please address any questions to “mark.lewin [at] microsoft [dot] com”. Please put “Multicore Computing RFP” in the subject line of your e-mail message to ensure a prompt and proper response.

Microsoft Word version of this document