Multi-core chip technology that had its origins in MIT's Project Oxygen in the mid-1900s has finally reached the marketplace, according to Tilera Corp., which said Monday that it has begun shipping a 64-core processor to customers.

The TILE64 is targeting embedded applications like networking and digital video, and is not meant to compete with multicore processors being marketing by Intel and AMD. The TILE64 has 64 identical processor cores -- or tiles -- that are interconnected. "It delivers scalable performance, power efficiency, and low processing latency in an extremely compact footprint," the company said in a statement.

The technology was developed by MIT professor Anant Agarwal, founder of Tilera; he continues today as the company's chief technology officer. Agarwal is based in the Boston area, where most of Tilera's research is conducted. Tilera's headquarters is located in Silicon Valley, near its customers and suppliers.

Early customers include 3Com and GoBackTV Inc. The TILE64's 64 identical processor cores are interconnected via an on-chip network, the company said. Each tile can run its own operating system and multiple tiles working together can run multi-processing operating systems like SMP Linux. "The TILE64 processor family slashes board real estate and system cost by integrating a complete set of memory and I/O controllers," Tilera said.

The company has benefited from a long stream of financing. The initial research was carried out at MIT's Project Oxygen and other MIT projects, which received funding from a variety of corporate and government sources including the National Science Foundation and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

According to published reports, Tilera has picked up $40 million from venture capital sources including Bessemer Venture Partners, Columbia Capital, Walden International, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.