back to article Hungry, hungry CPUs: Storage vendors hustle to get flash closer to compute

Multi-socket, multi-core CPUs are demanding entities: they have a gargantuan appetite for data which they suck up through a CPU-memory channel from DRAM, the server's memory. This access happens in nanoseconds, billionths of a second. Getting data from places beyond memory, such as PCIe server flash cards, SSDs directly …

  1. Ian Michael Gumby
    Flame

    Meh.

    While this is a good article... its a bit old.

    UltraDIMMs (DDR3) are old news these days.

    Waiting to hear when the DDR4 are released... (Diablo lawsuit an issue?)

    Beyond HP, there's Crossbar which has their own RRAM.

    Don't get me wrong, I believe that this tech is definitely a disruptive technology which means we can build faster and have a higher density in clusters with lower power and heat.

    But I have to flame Chris because its nothing new over the stuff 6 months ago, and I didn't see any mention of the lawsuit against Diablo.

    I guess Chris rushed this out to hit a deadline and then off to the pub.

    Sorry Chis, I expect better from you. ;-P

    1. Trevor_Pott Gold badge

      Re: Meh.

      The Netlist lawsuit looks to be flaming out. To put it bluntly, Netlist is running out of money. Their stock price is in the toilet, their patent judgements are still in limbo, the judge bumped one lawsuit for time and all but killed the other. Netlist got their notice from NASDAQ, has failed to have their much promised "large order" show up for the past 9ish months...

      Diablo doesn't have to worry about Netlist anymore because they simply won't be around much longer. At the end of the day, Diablo has access to more financial resources than Netlist do, and they aren't bleeding cash at the same rate. Even if Diablo is guilty of breach of contract - which will be down to how the judge interprets things, methinks - Netlist just might not make it that far.

      Hell, Netlist has had to recently admit that they are having trouble "securing raw materials". Rumor has it they only have about $10M left, at a burn rate that will see them bankrupt by June.

      Meanwhile, Diablo does have a DDR4 version in the works, it's called Carbon2.

      Many of us are skeptical about MCS's claims. is it really that much better than PCI-E? What are the real-world numbers? Do the headline numbers make real world difference in today's applications? All good questions, and I absolutely don't intend to let Diablo just make a bunch of claims without holding their hands to the fire.

      We all have questions, so please, do suggest tests to throw at this kit. Getting hold of it has been hard because every single MCS DIMM that Diablo's partners crank out seem to get bought up before anyone can really run them through the wringer. If I have anything to say about it, The Register will get the opportunity to test the validity of Diablo's claims about this technology soon. So let's get some real tests designed to push this stuff to the limits.

      At the end of the day, it's about the proving out the tech. The rest of this stuff? I don't think it's going to be an issue for much longer at all.

  2. thegreatsatan

    how many diablo commercials do we need

    Isn't this like the 4th such article pimping their stuff this year?

  3. PowerMan@thinksis

    IBM Power has CAPI

    IBM Power8 servers use CAPI or Coherent Accelerator Processor Interface shares a PCIe slot. It bypasses the device driver and PCIe stack placing adapters like GPU's, FPGA's, Graphics, Network and Fibre cards making it a peer to the Power8 core. Users can attach a IBM FlashSystem 840 with 48 TB of eMLC Flash NAND Flash chips on a Flash Module. Using their 2D & VSR Raid you have 40 TB of usable RAID protected memory. Now, you have enterprise flash that is reliable because of what it is made of, how it is configured with 2D and VSR Raid and serviceable because of the 840 hot swap features running at near memory speeds with direct access to all Power8 processors.

    Info on CAPI http://www-304.ibm.com/support/customercare/sas/f/capi/home.html http://www-304.ibm.com/webapp/set2/sas/f/capi/CAPI_POWER8.pdf http://www-304.ibm.com/webapp/set2/sas/f/capi/CAPI_FlashWhitePaper.pdf

    Info on Power8 http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/power/hardware/

    Info on IBM Flashsystem 840 http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/tips1158.html?Open#contents

    1. Trevor_Pott Gold badge

      Re: IBM Power has CAPI

      That's...really bloody sexy. That makes my inner nerd very, very happy. Want.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    And then you have Dell....

    not supporting NVMe on their brand new R730 for $deity$ knows what reason. I asked, just got a BS answer along the lines of "the 730xd is what you really want if you need NVMe". Never mind that the current 720 supports it.

    So all these great new storage capabilities and now you have vendors artificially segmenting the market. Talk about buyer beware! I would have never guessed in a million years that plugging an NVMe board in a 730 would leave me unsupported.

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