Analysis #HPE is undertaking the single most determined and ambitious architectural redesign of a server’s architecture in recent history in the shape of #TheMachine. We'll try to provide what Army types call a sitrep about The Machine, HPE's "completely different" system: its aims, its technology and its situation. Think of this as a catch-up article about this different kind of server. The Machine is being touted as a memory-driven computer in which a universal pool of non-volatile memory is accessed by large numbers of specialised cores, and in which data is not moved from processor (server) to processor (server), but in which data can stay still while different processors are brought to bear on either all of it or subsets of it. Aims include not moving masses of data to servers across relatively slow interconnects, and gaining the high processing speed of in-memory computing without using expensive DRAM. The main benefit is hoped to be a quantum leap in compute performance and energy efficiency, providing the ability to extend computation into new workloads as well as speed analytics and #HPC and other existing workloads. It involves developments at virtually every level of server construction, from every chip design, through system-on-chips, silicon photonics chips and message protocols, server boards, CPU-memory access and architectures, chassis, network fabrics, operating system code and application stacks from which IO may be completely redesigned. There is a real chance HPE may have over-reached itself and that, even if it does deliver The Machine to the market, hidebound users and suspicious developers may not adopt it. The Machine is an extraordinary high-stakes bet by HPE, so let's try and assess the system and its state here.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/11/24/hpes_machinations_to_rewrite_server_design_laws/
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