Hewlett Packard (HP) Enterprise recently unveiled a new supercomputer which is up to 8,000 times faster than existing PCs. HP had been working on the computer since 2014, and have finally unveiled its working prototype.
Dubbed ‘the Machine,’ this computer system will no longer be dependent on traditional processors. Instead, it will rely on memory to perform any calculations.
As HP Enterprise explains, it is “a concept that puts memory, not processing, at the center of the computing platform to realize performance and efficiency gains not possible today.” Here are some of its features:
- The computer will be able to store huge amounts of data in smaller spaces, and it will dramatically reduce the space required by a data center.
- HP claims that memory-driven computing can help in achieving improved execution speeds up to 8,000 times faster than existing PCs.
- The Machine uses photonics to transmit data using light.
- The current prototype of The Machine has 8TB of RAM, which is about 30 times that which is on a traditional server.
- HP is planning to go from 8TB to hundreds of terabytes of RAM in its supercomputer.
- The company is developing a new kind of memory chip called a memristor that can retain data even when it is powered off.
- These memristors will be ready for use when The Machine launches in 2018 or 2019.
