Guest Editors' Introduction: On-Chip Interconnects for Multicores

This special issue of IEEE Micro brings readers the latest advances in the field of on-chip interconnects for multicores. The guest editors specifically selected articles to focus on novel on-chip networks realized on actual silicon--partly to showcase a few silicon prototypes of on-chip networks being used in multicore processors and SoCs; partly to bring to attention the implementation issues facing architects and designers. Along with six articles that gather insights from the designers of actual on-chip interconnects for multicores, the special issue includes two articles that delve into the design infrastructure support for on-chip networks and an article that summarizes the grand research challenges for realizing next-generation on-chip networks and multicores.