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With 'The Machine,' HP May Have Invented a New Kind of Computer

businessweek.com

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Re: With 'The Machine,' HP May Have Invented a New Kind of Computer

#11

Post by oddevan »

cliveowen wrote: post #8

I so much want this to be true, I can't wait for it. Not having a layered memory architecture means no VM, everything has be rethought from the filesystem down. On a related note: "Operating systems have not been taught what to do with all of this memory, and HP will have to get very creative." Anyone knows what this could possibly mean?

Probably has to do with the way we interact with RAM (memory addresses?) vs persistent memory (file system). Can those two be merged, or is the whole system like a giant RAM disk?

Re: With 'The Machine,' HP May Have Invented a New Kind of Computer

#13

Post by valarauca1 »

A memristor is the 4th fundamental circuit component, along with capacitors, resistors, and inductors.

The important part of memristors is that they can be arranged to form a crossbar latch, which acts like a transistor.

This crossbar latches are very very small, and very low power. HP plans on achieving data density of 100GB/cm^2 [1] with read write speeds approximately 100x faster then flash memory while using 1% of the energy. Also with lower energy costs, expected data density is 1 Petabyte per cm^3 (due to 3D stacked circuitry)

Basically when this technology comes of age we'll see smart phones reach the order of terabytes of storage.

[1] http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1168454

Re: With 'The Machine,' HP May Have Invented a New Kind of Computer

#14

Post by toomuchtodo »

valarauca1 wrote: post #13

A memristor is the 4th fundamental circuit component, along with capacitors, resistors, and inductors. The important part of memristors is that they can be arranged to form a crossbar latch, which acts like a transistor. This crossbar latches are very very small, and very low power. HP plans on achieving data density of 100GB/cm^2 [1] with read write speeds approximately 100x faster then flash memory while using 1% o…

> Basically when this technology comes of age we'll see smart phones reach the order of terabytes of storage.

Looking forward to carrying the library of congress, netflix's entire catalog, and all of openstreetmap on my phone in the next 5 years.

Re: With 'The Machine,' HP May Have Invented a New Kind of Computer

#16

Post by higherpurpose »

valarauca1 wrote: post #13

A memristor is the 4th fundamental circuit component, along with capacitors, resistors, and inductors. The important part of memristors is that they can be arranged to form a crossbar latch, which acts like a transistor. This crossbar latches are very very small, and very low power. HP plans on achieving data density of 100GB/cm^2 [1] with read write speeds approximately 100x faster then flash memory while using 1% o…

I assume the initial prices will also be 10x more per GB than what we have now, too, much like SSDs and flash storage in the beginning (it's still the case actually) - compared to flash storage that is - so 100x more per GB than HDD storage.

Re: With 'The Machine,' HP May Have Invented a New Kind of Computer

#17

Post by valarauca1 »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #14
valarauca1 wrote: post #13

A memristor is the 4th fundamental circuit component, along with capacitors, resistors, and inductors. The important part of memristors is that they can be arranged to form a crossbar latch, which acts like a transistor. This crossbar latches are very very small, and very low power. HP plans on achieving data density of 100GB/cm^2 [1] with read write speeds approximately 100x faster then flash memory while using 1% o…

> Basically when this technology comes of age we'll see smart phones reach the order of terabytes of storage. Looking forward to carrying the library of congress, netflix's entire catalog, and all of openstreetmap on my phone in the next 5 years.

This means we might be able to make a literal version of the hitchhikers guide. All of human knowledge in your hand, no network connectivity needed.

Re: With 'The Machine,' HP May Have Invented a New Kind of Computer

#18

Post by valarauca1 »

higherpurpose wrote: post #16
valarauca1 wrote: post #13

A memristor is the 4th fundamental circuit component, along with capacitors, resistors, and inductors. The important part of memristors is that they can be arranged to form a crossbar latch, which acts like a transistor. This crossbar latches are very very small, and very low power. HP plans on achieving data density of 100GB/cm^2 [1] with read write speeds approximately 100x faster then flash memory while using 1% o…

I assume the initial prices will also be 10x more per GB than what we have now, too, much like SSDs and flash storage in the beginning (it's still the case actually) - compared to flash storage that is - so 100x more per GB than HDD storage.

It'll come down. Demand will be massive (if it lives up to the hype). This could potentially unify the RAM and Hard disks in computers.

Re: With 'The Machine,' HP May Have Invented a New Kind of Computer

#20

Post by valarauca1 »

oddevan wrote: post #12
api wrote: post #7

Seems like a test platform for memristor tech.

Is there a better way to test a tech than to make a product with it?

Well they announced it cautiously back in 2006, popular science ran an article on it. They've done some press mainly with EE magazines since then.

This technology has been in R&D for nearly a decade. I figure it pretty mature.

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