The primary activity of the Parallel Tools Consortium is to sponsor tool development projects. At the present time, sponsorship does not include funding. Each project focuses on a tool component responding to a specific, well defined requirement arising from the user community. The research community participates by identifying or inventing technological capabilities that answer the user need. Implementors from at least two companies work with them to provide development support and to ensure that the component will work effectively and efficiently in production-level environments.
Users perform testing and provide feedback on tool design.
Together, the participants arrive at a standard definition for the tool component, a specification of its user interface, and a public implementation, intended to be a model for future, proprietary implementations. A working group is formed to support each approved project. Each group works semi-autonomously to define and prototype its component. The larger Ptools membership is used to test the tool and acquire user feedback. The results of working groups are made available royalty-free for adoption by industry, in the form of fully supported, proprietary products.