About this talk
This talk, presented by Thanos Stratikopoulos from the University of Manchester, covers the evolution of TornadoVM, an open-source framework that enables GPU acceleration within the Java ecosystem. The speaker discusses the origins of TornadoVM as a PhD research project aimed at providing hardware acceleration for Java applications, and introduces a platform-agnostic API designed to facilitate the offloading of computations to GPUs and other accelerators. The session also delves into TornadoVM's architecture, including its runtime, JIT compiler, and multi-backend support for CPUs, GPUs, and FPGAs, as well as real-world applications in AI, data analytics, and scientific computing, including its deployment in the European Space Agency Gaia mission. Additionally, the speaker emphasizes the importance of open-source development practices, continuous integration, and sustainability challenges in maintaining the framework and supporting long-term community growth.
