Here is the abstract of a white paper on an Introduction to Embedded multicore from Freescale. You probably need to register to download.
“The computer industry is driven by pursuit of ever increasing performance. From high-end customized special-purpose computing in networking, telecommunications, and avionics to low-power embedded computing in desktop computing, portable computing and video games, customers expect faster, more efficient, and more powerful products. However, single core products are showing a diminishing ability to increase product performance at pace with consumer desire. Multicore processing is recognized as a key component for continued performance improvements. The industry is on a clear path towards an increasing number of cores. Dualand quad-core devices have been established for several years, and they are just the beginning of the explosion in the number of cores per device. However, this kind of expansion creates a challenge, not only for the semiconductor industry, but also for the system and software designers who put them to work. Writing applications that execute in parallel is seldom easy; sometimes it is not even possible. So why is the industry moving this way? What are the problems, and how can we smoothly work around them?”
