HP's "The Machine"

[iParanormalx]

Back in July HP announced a new type of computer they've been working on in HP Labs. Their announcement was pretty impressive but I've not heard anything more out of it in the past few months. I'm just kindof wondering what everyone's thoughts are on this.

For those too lazy.

Personally I don't see much or anything coming of it. Their unveiling was awe-inspiring to the idea behind The Machine and the concept alone is intriguing; but I just see a big disconnect here almost like its fiction.

 

[Joe C]

known as vaporware

 

[PP Mguire]

Kind of like that awesome Razer modular PC thing with oil cooling.

 

[Apokalipse]

The key technology with it is memristors (also known an ReRAM), which if they end up ever getting to market, could end-up replacing both hard drives and RAM, into a single unified storage system.
Current operating systems and programs are built on the assumption that you have a set of fast temporary memory (RAM) and slow permanent storage. And HP with "the machine" wants to basically create a new type of computer and OS based on a single unified storage device.

Who knows if/when memristors will ever get to market. Though HP is not the only company working on it.
Though I would expect that if they do, the first releases will probably be in the form of SSD's (which use memristors instead of NAND flash).

 

[PP Mguire]

Non-volatile memory based storage has already seen light.

 

[Apokalipse]

Non-volatile memory based storage has already seen light.

Sure, we have NAND flash. And yes it's much faster than using mechanical drives. But memristors should take it to a whole other level. At least in theory.

They're supposed to be:
• As fast as RAM (much faster than NAND flash)
• Use much less power (it takes a high voltage to store a bit using NAND flash)
• Have much higher storage density (should be significantly smaller than NAND gates given the same size manufacturing process)
• Be able to scale down to smaller manufacturing processes much easier (NAND flash has a hard time below 20nm, which is why people are moving to 3D NAND)

HP is not the only company trying to get memristors to work. There is also Crossbar.
Will Crossbar Beat HP To The Memristor Finish Line? - In The News & Current Events - FutureTimeline.forum

This in one technology I really hope delivers.

 

[iParanormalx]

Thanks for sharing the info on this. I almost dismissed "The Machine" as farcical.. which is odd because I usually love that 'cutting edge' stuff.

 

[PP Mguire]

All we need is for the flash speed to catch up.

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