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TexasTowelie

(112,160 posts)
Tue Jun 17, 2014, 04:39 PM Jun 2014

New Type Of Computer Capable Of Calculating 640TBs Of Data In One Billionth Of A Second

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Let me introduce The Machine- HP’s latest invention that could revolutionize the computing world. According to HP, The Machine is not a server, workstation, PC, device or phone but an amalgamation of all these things. It’s designed to be able to cope with the masses of data produced from the Internet of Things, which is the concept of a future network designed to connect a variety of objects and gadgets.

In order to handle this flurry of information it uses clusters of specialized cores as opposed to a small number of generalized cores. The whole thing is connected together using silicon photonics instead of traditional copper wires, boosting the speed of the system whilst reducing energy requirements. Furthermore, the technology features memristors which are resistors that are able to store information even after power loss.

The result is a system six times more powerful than existing servers that requires eighty times less energy. According to HP, The Machine can manage 160 petabytes of data in a mere 250 nanoseconds. And, what’s more, this isn’t just for huge supercomputers- it could be used in smaller devices such as smartphones and laptops. During a keynote speech given at Discover, chief technology officer Martin Fink explained that if the technology was scaled down, smartphones could be fabricated with 100 terabytes of memory.

HP envisages a variety of future applications for this technology in numerous different settings, from business to medicine. For example, it could be possible for doctors to compare your symptoms or DNA with patients across the globe in an instant and without breaching privacy, improving health outcomes.

More at http://www.iflscience.com/technology/new-type-computer-capable-calculating-640tbs-data-one-billionth-second-could .
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New Type Of Computer Capable Of Calculating 640TBs Of Data In One Billionth Of A Second (Original Post) TexasTowelie Jun 2014 OP
"It could be possible for doctors to (do marvelous things) without breaching privacy..." Towlie Jun 2014 #1
I'm holding out for the first consumer quantum computer. tridim Jun 2014 #2
That's pretty much what cell phones used to look like bananas Jun 2014 #3
Already been done. .... Tricorder. postulater Jun 2014 #4
Sounds Promising cantbeserious Jun 2014 #5
Why were the first words it spoke, "Kill all humans"? tclambert Jun 2014 #6
It came in a box from "Serve The People, Inc". jtuck004 Jun 2014 #7
or to quote Bender from Futurama... Javaman Jun 2014 #8
No, it will sing "Daisy". nt awoke_in_2003 Jun 2014 #10
It won't matter for Serfs PeoViejo Jun 2014 #9
It will be the minimum required system for Windows 12 jmowreader Jul 2014 #11
Hmmmm, what's that smell? EvolveOrConvolve Jul 2014 #12
I smelled a big load myself when I saw the headline the other day in a newspaper. BlueJazz Jul 2014 #13
Finally, computer designers are taking a clue from the human brain. GliderGuider Jul 2014 #14

Towlie

(5,324 posts)
1. "It could be possible for doctors to (do marvelous things) without breaching privacy..."
Tue Jun 17, 2014, 04:59 PM
Jun 2014

It's already possible to do many wonderful things without breaching privacy.

But...

tridim

(45,358 posts)
2. I'm holding out for the first consumer quantum computer.
Tue Jun 17, 2014, 05:39 PM
Jun 2014

The next 20 years of computing is going to blow minds.

bananas

(27,509 posts)
3. That's pretty much what cell phones used to look like
Tue Jun 17, 2014, 06:16 PM
Jun 2014

"this isn’t just for huge supercomputers- it could be used in smaller devices such as smartphones"

Hooray for software bloat! We can go back to phones that look like this:


Martin Cooper photographed in 2007 with his 1973 handheld mobile phone prototype

 

jtuck004

(15,882 posts)
7. It came in a box from "Serve The People, Inc".
Wed Jun 18, 2014, 12:48 PM
Jun 2014

Now we can make them faster, but they are still mistakes

jmowreader

(50,557 posts)
11. It will be the minimum required system for Windows 12
Thu Jul 10, 2014, 11:13 PM
Jul 2014

But only if you double the RAM and bump up the disk space.

EvolveOrConvolve

(6,452 posts)
12. Hmmmm, what's that smell?
Thu Jul 10, 2014, 11:50 PM
Jul 2014

Oh wait, it's just the smell of horseshit wafting our way from the HP marketing department. And the title? "Calculating 640TBs of data in one billionth of a second"? C'mon, what does that even mean? The sort of bandwidth required to manage that amount of data in a stream that delivers its payload in a billionth of a second is impossible, and I won't even go into the number of processors that would be required to perform even basic "calculations" on it.

I work at a semiconductor company, and the things HP is claiming aren't possible with current technology. Even technology 2 or 3 generations down the road don't come close. It's ridiculous.

Here's a good Cringely-worthy dismantling:
http://www.infoworld.com/t/cringely/hewlett-packards-machine-vaporware-meet-empty-suit-244265

 

BlueJazz

(25,348 posts)
13. I smelled a big load myself when I saw the headline the other day in a newspaper.
Sun Jul 13, 2014, 01:33 AM
Jul 2014

Seemed like electrons traveling under one foot wouldn't have time to process 640 terabytes of info.
..In this day and age ??

 

GliderGuider

(21,088 posts)
14. Finally, computer designers are taking a clue from the human brain.
Sun Jul 13, 2014, 12:14 PM
Jul 2014
"In order to handle this flurry of information it uses clusters of specialized cores as opposed to a small number of generalized cores."

That's pretty much how the human brain is constructed, and why it does so well at processing so much data. The failure to understand that architecture, and the belief that the brain is "sort of" a general-purpose processor has held AI back since the beginning.

This is a very promising development, regardless of how the marketing droids at HP have mis-described it.
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