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I've been following The Machine for a while, a try to summarise: The Machine is unique in that it can stack huge amounts of memory without communication issues

I've been following The Machine for a while, a try to summarise: The Machine is unique in that it can stack huge amounts of memory without communication issues with the CPU because it uses light instead of copper for transacting data internally. The memory is called Memristors and are persistent, just like a harddrive/SSD. They are also much faster since they stack in parallel and can be written/read in parallell, similar to a RAID setup but with better scaling. These combinations enable extremely fast speeds to access and process data, but it also needs a better and faster back-end (Operating System) to handle the new way of thinking about memory and data processing. I see a LOT of amazing changes if they manage to launch it. Like enormous 3D worlds with no texture or model-popping with 4K textures all in real-time and in VR. Stuff of dreams!

minthd 12y ago
One interesting thing: intel has been working for years on light communications between chips. Why is HP launching this first and not intel ?
- tmikaeld 12y ago
  My guess is that Intel will actually reach usability first by going the traditional route and have it "compatible" with current operating systems. This way they will be first to market with a directly usable platform, while in the meantime work on a new OS or fork one of their existing platforms (Like Tizen) and adapt it for this new tech. Though this will depend on a compatible Linux kernel and i see this as the part taking the longest time!
  - nl 12y ago
    I'd expect "The Machine" to ship as a specialised coprocessor machine first. There are users right now who'd pay $^7 for in-memory like performance over datasets too big for traditional memory (eg graph processing). That will avoid the problem of low yield with the new technology which can be a problem for consumer products where a higher volume is needed.

minthd 12y ago

One interesting thing: intel has been working for years on light communications between chips. Why is HP launching this first and not intel ?

tmikaeld 12y ago
My guess is that Intel will actually reach usability first by going the traditional route and have it "compatible" with current operating systems. This way they will be first to market with a directly usable platform, while in the meantime work on a new OS or fork one of their existing platforms (Like Tizen) and adapt it for this new tech. Though this will depend on a compatible Linux kernel and i see this as the part taking the longest time!
- nl 12y ago
  I'd expect "The Machine" to ship as a specialised coprocessor machine first. There are users right now who'd pay $^7 for in-memory like performance over datasets too big for traditional memory (eg graph processing). That will avoid the problem of low yield with the new technology which can be a problem for consumer products where a higher volume is needed.