9 Feb
2020
9 Feb
'20
6:42 p.m.
On Sat, Feb 08, 2020 at 05:18:37PM +0000, Ralph Corderoy wrote:
Hi,
Rob Pike wrote:
Or it might be a giant step backwards in terms of memory latency.
I am convinced that large-scale modern compute
centers would be run
very differently, with fewer or at least lesser problems, if they were
treated as a single system rather than as a bunch of single-user
computers ssh'ed together.
This reminds me of Western Digital's recent OmniXtend. It takes a
programmable Ethernet switch and changes the protocol: Ethernet becomes
OmniXtend. It's a cache-coherency protocol the allows CPUs, custom
ASICs, FPGAs, GPUS, ML accelerators, ... to each hang off an 802.3 PHY
and share one memory pool.
https://blog.westerndigital.com/omnixtend-fabric-innovation-with-risc-v/
It might be a step towards a room of racks being marshalled as a single
computer.