Processor speeds tend to be reduced in practice because computers are slowed by an input-output (IO) bottleneck between the processor’s fast RAM and the data stored on a more sluggish disk. The speed is limited by how fast the system is able to read and write data, which represents a significant loss of time and energy.
One solution is to make the processor’s faster RAM large enough to contain all the data for an operation, but that would require the development of a very large and non-volatile high-speed RAM, called NVRAM (the non-volatile means data is not lost when it is switched off).
Despite the challenges associated with this, it has inspired researchers to try and design a computer that can hold a complete data base in its processor’s RAM. The idea became more feasible when Intel introduced NVRAM, called 3D Xpoint, a non-volatile memory technology back in 2015, allowing much higher read-write speeds than existing top-of-the-line solid-state drives (SSDs, which are chip-based, faster, less power hungry but more expensive than hard disk drives - HDDs).
The European project NEXTGenIO (Next Generation I/O for the Exascale) aims to develop such a computer, and has developed a prototype using a processor linked to the 3D Xpoint NVRAM.
“The 3D XPoint memory is so interesting because it is not just a high-performance computer technology, it is going to become very common in all types of computing,” explained Mark Parsons, coordinator of the project and executive director of the Edinburgh Supercomputing Centre (EPCC) based at the University of Edinburgh, UK. “First it will be used in data centres, and it will find applications across business and science. Later on, such memory is expected to appear in phones and tablets.”
The project, started in 2015, attracted interest from major industry players including Fujitsu, INTEL-Germany, and five other companies and research institutions.
Earlier this year, Fujitsu demonstrated an early prototype of the project’s work at the ISC High Performance 2018 conference in Frankfurt.
“We plan some full demos on the system coming this spring. We have a range of applications we want to showcase as part of the project,” said Michèle Weiland, from the Edinburgh Supercomputing Centre. “It is important for us to show the versatility of the platform, it’s not only useful for traditional high-performance computing [HPC],” she added.
Peter Bauer, Deputy Director of Research at ECMWF, reports that they are awaiting the availability of a fully working prototype. “We were able to test our application in simulation mode on other non-volatile solid-state drives and obtained good results. As soon as the NextGenIO system will be assembled we will be ready,” he said.