MPPAs are based on a software parallel programming model for developing high-performance embedded system applications.
[2] An MPPA application is developed by expressing it as a hierarchical block diagram or workflow, whose basic objects run in parallel, each on their own processor.
Likewise, large data objects may be broken up and distributed into local memories with parallel access.
[3] MPPAs are used in high-performance embedded systems and hardware acceleration of desktop computer and server applications, such as video compression,[4][5] image processing,[6] medical imaging, network processing, software-defined radio and other compute-intensive streaming media applications, which otherwise would use FPGA, DSP and/or ASIC chips.
MPPAs developed in companies include ones designed at: Ambric, PicoChip, Intel,[7] IntellaSys, GreenArrays, ASOCS, Tilera, Kalray, Coherent Logix, Tabula, and Adapteva.