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HP Memristors Will Reinvent Computer Memory "by 2014"

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Re: HP Memristors Will Reinvent Computer Memory "by 2014"

#11

Post by pillock »

joshuahedlund wrote: post #10

> “Our partner, Hynix, is a major producer of flash memory, and memristors will cannibalise its existing business by replacing some flash memory with a different technology,” he said. “So the way we time the introduction of memristors turns out to be important. There’s a lot more money being spent on understanding and modeling the market than on any of the research.” Surely if they wait too long purely for profitable…

That passage leapt out at me too. In my simplistic geek mind this is totally arse-about-face, like the tail wagging the dog. Are these companies more interested in money than what they're actually doing?

But to answer your point: Patents.

Re: HP Memristors Will Reinvent Computer Memory "by 2014"

#12

Post by gruseom »

From http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4126966 I learned that HP's memristor claims are controversial within the research community:

http://vixra.org/abs/1205.0004

http://www.slideshare.net/blaisemouttet/mythical-memristor

Some of the controversy is about priority, which may not matter so much; I care less about whom I get massive on-chip non-volatile storage from than that I get it at all. But that too is under dispute (e.g. "Myth #3" in the second link above). So it's a little distressing to see signs of vaporware from HP at this point. I really want this!

Also, the OP links to a post (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/09/hp_memristor_and_pho...) in which Williams says something odd: "We're not going to make money off these chips. We are going to make money by building cool systems utilising these chips." If his memristor claims are true, the chips themselves could hardly be more of a game changer – worth billions to put it mildly.

Re: HP Memristors Will Reinvent Computer Memory "by 2014"

#13

Post by tluyben2 »

They should starting to bring out developer packages asap, because memory is not the only thing you can do with it as you can see from the presentations and papers. I find the stuff it can do BESIDES memory actually more interesting and really would like to get experimenting with it.

Re: HP Memristors Will Reinvent Computer Memory "by 2014"

#14

Post by zokier »

pillock wrote: post #11
joshuahedlund wrote: post #10

> “Our partner, Hynix, is a major producer of flash memory, and memristors will cannibalise its existing business by replacing some flash memory with a different technology,” he said. “So the way we time the introduction of memristors turns out to be important. There’s a lot more money being spent on understanding and modeling the market than on any of the research.” Surely if they wait too long purely for profitable…

That passage leapt out at me too. In my simplistic geek mind this is totally arse-about-face, like the tail wagging the dog. Are these companies more interested in money than what they're actually doing? But to answer your point: Patents.

> Are these companies more interested in money than what they're actually doing?

Their [HP] interest in what they're actually doing is demonstrated in their investment in research that has enabled memristors. Commercialization, what the quote was about, is obviously more about money. Money that eventually ends up funding more research like this.

Re: HP Memristors Will Reinvent Computer Memory "by 2014"

#15

Post by acqq »

sp332 wrote: post #3
ChuckMcM wrote: post #2

Seems an optimistic timeline to 'reinvent' memory. They have perhaps forgotten about 'bubble memory' which was going to 'eliminate disks' in 1982. From the article : "As reported by The Register, at a recent conference in Oxnard, California, HP’s Stan Williams said that commercial memristor hardware will be available by the end of 2014 at the earliest." So basically we'll get to see real devices perhaps at the end of…

Bubble memory was doing just fine until a Nobel-winning physics breakthrough allowed the existence of high-density hard drives. If memristors do as well as bubble memory, there will have to be a serious fluke for it not to replace everything on the market. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubble_memory#Commercializatio...

Please give any pointer to "a Nobel-winning physics breakthrough which allowed the existence of high-density hard drives." Thanks!

Re: HP Memristors Will Reinvent Computer Memory "by 2014"

#16

Post by sp332 »

acqq wrote: post #15
sp332 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bubble memory was doing just fine until a Nobel-winning physics breakthrough allowed the existence of high-density hard drives. If memristors do as well as bubble memory, there will have to be a serious fluke for it not to replace everything on the market. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubble_memory#Commercializatio...

Please give any pointer to "a Nobel-winning physics breakthrough which allowed the existence of high-density hard drives." Thanks!

This one https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_magnetoresistance

Re: HP Memristors Will Reinvent Computer Memory "by 2014"

#17

Post by joelthelion »

acqq wrote: post #15
sp332 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bubble memory was doing just fine until a Nobel-winning physics breakthrough allowed the existence of high-density hard drives. If memristors do as well as bubble memory, there will have to be a serious fluke for it not to replace everything on the market. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubble_memory#Commercializatio...

Please give any pointer to "a Nobel-winning physics breakthrough which allowed the existence of high-density hard drives." Thanks!

I think this is what we're talking about: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_magnetoresistance

Re: HP Memristors Will Reinvent Computer Memory "by 2014"

#18

Post by JackC »

freehunter wrote: post #8

So then memristors remain "in the future". sigh . I was naiive enough to believe them a year ago when they said "it'll be on the market in 18 months". I was really looking forward to that being true and ditching RAM in six months.

Don't worry, it's still true. They'll be on the market in 18 months. :)

Re: HP Memristors Will Reinvent Computer Memory "by 2014"

#19

Post by pillock »

zokier wrote: post #14
pillock wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That passage leapt out at me too. In my simplistic geek mind this is totally arse-about-face, like the tail wagging the dog. Are these companies more interested in money than what they're actually doing? But to answer your point: Patents.

> Are these companies more interested in money than what they're actually doing? Their [HP] interest in what they're actually doing is demonstrated in their investment in research that has enabled memristors. Commercialization, what the quote was about, is obviously more about money. Money that eventually ends up funding more research like this.

Of course you're right, but surely there's a balance to be found between delaying the launch of this product vs. maximizing profits. If the company involved is more interested in money they'll tend to err towards delaying release, if they're more interested in the impact of their product they'll tend to release sooner. Clearly, at a societal level, we'd prefer to have this product sooner, so we have to constantly question the leverage that patents afford large corporations and question their methods and motives.

Re: HP Memristors Will Reinvent Computer Memory "by 2014"

#20

Post by Zenst »

freehunter wrote: post #8

So then memristors remain "in the future". sigh . I was naiive enough to believe them a year ago when they said "it'll be on the market in 18 months". I was really looking forward to that being true and ditching RAM in six months.

It may be 18 months in the RAM world but in memresistor world it is as long as you like and still holding the 18 months value :).

That all said you are right and sadly come 2014 it will still not be available for your PC to replace your RAM as it will take that long again to define a standard and then that time again to have chipsets that support said standard.

So for a consumer PC, i'd say 2017 is when you can look at replacing your RAM and by that time PC's will probably be reduced to devices were you can't change the RAM and as such you wont know what you have got inside. But who knows for sure and if they do then they would proabably get done for insider share dealing just by telling people.

Only think we know for sure is the here and now and that any dat that has no product release date set in stone is a date that has not had the engineering factor of x2 and is a marketing factor of x.5. IE Engineers double the amount of time it will realy take and markting will half the amount of time it will realy take. Even then Engineers thesedays need to realy use x3.

Still - once we see a prototype working in a form factor we can identify with and running windows or a comercial OS of any form, then and only then can we feel that it will be available within 2 years. Anything else is pure marketing by people who will be working elsewere in years time.

Though I would love to be proved wrong on this, truely.

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