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IBM Advances Supercomputer-On-A-Chip Technology
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Fri, 7 Dec 2007 03:44:34 -0800
I keep saying this will happen in talks I give and LO. djf ________________________________________ From: bobr () bobrosenberg phoenix az us [bobr () bobrosenberg phoenix az us] Sent: Friday, December 07, 2007 5:52 AM To: David Farber Subject: IBM Advances Supercomputer-On-A-Chip Technology Dave Perhaps for IP. Bob IBM Advances Supercomputer-On-A-Chip Technology For companies, it would mean having smaller computers that are far more powerful than today's machines, yet produce far less heat. By Antone Gonsalves InformationWeek December 6, 2007 06:00 PM http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=204702120 IBM on Thursday unveiled a technical advancement related to the use of light to carry large amounts of data quickly among cores within a microprocessor, taking the company closer to developing a chip that may one day run notebooks with the horsepower of today's supercomputers. The breakthrough revolves around a device used to transform electrical impulses into beams of light. The device, called a modulator, is similar to what's used today in optical networks built by telecommunication companies. IBM scientists say they have found a way to shrink the modulator to a size where it can fit within a multi-core CPU. The achievement, published in the journal Optics Express, is not all that's needed to one day bring data-carrying light beams to processors. However, it is an important first step toward production, which is about 10 to 15 years away, William Green, lead scientist on the project, told InformationWeek. "We've been working on this for sometime at IBM, and there's still a lot of work to do," he said. "It's one of the pieces within this larger network that we're designing and building." The potential benefits of IBM's work to businesses and consumers are huge. For companies, it would mean having smaller computers that are far more powerful than today's machines, yet produce far less heat. Among the problems facing businesses today are the size and number of servers needed to process an ever-growing amount of data, which means larger expensive data centers. In addition, today's computers generate a lot of heat, requiring companies to spend more on power to cool them. On the consumer side, a supercomputer in a box in the home could handle far more chores. Those tasks could range from operating lights and heating systems to processing and distributing video and more realistic computer games, which could include 3D environments in which characters move about seamlessly. <snip> -- Bob Rosenberg P.O. Box 33023 Phoenix, AZ 85067-3023 Mobile: 602-206-2856 LandLine: 602-274-3012 bob () bobrosenberg phoenix az us ************** "Civil government cannot let any group ride roughshod over others simply because their consciences tell them to do so." -- Robert H. Jackson While an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, Jackson was appointed Chief United States Prosecutor at the International War Crimes Tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany. "Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear." -- Harry S. Truman, message to Congress, August 8, 1950 ------------------------------------------- Archives: http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
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- IBM Advances Supercomputer-On-A-Chip Technology David Farber (Dec 07)