Computer trends for 2014

Here is my collection of trends and predictions for year 2014:

It seems that PC market is not recovering in 2014. IDC is forecasting that the technology channel will buy in around 34 million fewer PCs this year than last. It seem that things aren’t going to improve any time soon (down, down, down until 2017?). There will be no let-up on any front, with desktops and portables predicted to decline in both the mature and emerging markets. Perhaps the chief concern for future PC demand is a lack of reasons to replace an older system: PC usage has not moved significantly beyond consumption and productivity tasks to differentiate PCs from other devices. As a result, PC lifespan continue to increase. Death of the Desktop article says that sadly for the traditional desktop, this is only a matter of time before its purpose expires and that it would be inevitable it will happen within this decade. (I expect that it will not completely disappear).

When the PC business is slowly decreasing, smartphone and table business will increase quickly. Some time in the next six months, the number of smartphones on earth will pass the number of PCs. This shouldn’t really surprise anyone: the mobile business is much bigger than the computer industry. There are now perhaps 3.5-4 billion mobile phones, replaced every two years, versus 1.7-1.8 billion PCs replaced every 5 years. Smartphones broke down that wall between those industries few years ago – suddenly tech companies could sell to an industry with $1.2 trillion annual revenue. Now you can sell more phones in a quarter than the PC industry sells in a year.

After some years we will end up with somewhere over 3bn smartphones in use on earth, almost double the number of PCs. There are perhaps 900m consumer PCs on earth, and maybe 800m corporate PCs. The consumer PCs are mostly shared and the corporate PCs locked down, and neither are really mobile. Those 3 billion smartphones will all be personal, and all mobile. Mobile browsing is set to overtake traditional desktop browsing in 2015. The smartphone revolution is changing how consumers use the Internet. This will influence web design.

crystalball

The only PC sector that seems to have some growth is server side. Microservers & Cloud Computing to Drive Server Growth article says that increased demand for cloud computing and high-density microserver systems has brought the server market back from a state of decline. We’re seeing fairly significant change in the server market. According to the 2014 IC Market Drivers report, server unit shipment growth will increase in the next several years, thanks to purchases of new, cheaper microservers. The total server IC market is projected to rise by 3% in 2014 to $14.4 billion: multicore MPU segment for microservers and NAND flash memories for solid state drives are expected to see better numbers.

Spinning rust and tape are DEAD. The future’s flash, cache and cloud article tells that the flash is the tier for primary data; the stuff christened tier 0. Data that needs to be written out to a slower response store goes across a local network link to a cloud storage gateway and that holds the tier 1 nearline data in its cache. Never mind software-defined HYPE, 2014 will be the year of storage FRANKENPLIANCES article tells that more hype around Software-Defined-Everything will keep the marketeers and the marchitecture specialists well employed for the next twelve months but don’t expect anything radical. The only innovation is going to be around pricing and consumption models as vendors try to maintain margins. FCoE will continue to be a side-show and FC, like tape, will soldier on happily. NAS will continue to eat away at the block storage market and perhaps 2014 will be the year that object storage finally takes off.

IT managers are increasingly replacing servers with SaaS article says that cloud providers take on a bigger share of the servers as overall market starts declining. An in-house system is no longer the default for many companies. IT managers want to cut the number of servers they manage, or at least slow the growth, and they may be succeeding. IDC expects that anywhere from 25% to 30% of all the servers shipped next year will be delivered to cloud services providers. In three years, 2017, nearly 45% of all the servers leaving manufacturers will be bought by cloud providers. The shift will slow the purchase of server sales to enterprise IT. Big cloud providers are more and more using their own designs instead of servers from big manufacturers. Data center consolidations are eliminating servers as well. For sure, IT managers are going to be managing physical servers for years to come. But, the number will be declining.

I hope that the IT business will start to grow this year as predicted. Information technology spends to increase next financial year according to N Chandrasekaran, chief executive and managing director of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India’s largest information technology (IT) services company. IDC predicts that IT consumption will increase next year to 5 per cent worldwide to $ 2.14 trillion. It is expected that the biggest opportunity will lie in the digital space: social, mobility, cloud and analytics. The gradual recovery of the economy in Europe will restore faith in business. Companies are re-imaging their business, keeping in mind changing digital trends.

The death of Windows XP will be on the new many times on the spring. There will be companies try to cash in with death of Windows XP: Microsoft’s plan for Windows XP support to end next spring, has received IT services providers as well as competitors to invest in their own services marketing. HP is peddling their customers Connected Backup 8.8 service to prevent data loss during migration. VMware is selling cloud desktop service. Google is wooing users to switch to ChromeOS system by making Chrome’s user interface familiar to wider audiences. The most effective way XP exploiting is the European defense giant EADS subsidiary of Arkoon, which promises support for XP users who do not want to or can not upgrade their systems.

There will be talk on what will be coming from Microsoft next year. Microsoft is reportedly planning to launch a series of updates in 2015 that could see major revisions for the Windows, Xbox, and Windows RT platforms. Microsoft’s wave of spring 2015 updates to its various Windows-based platforms has a codename: Threshold. If all goes according to early plans, Threshold will include updates to all three OS platforms (Xbox One, Windows and Windows Phone).

crystalball

Amateur programmers are becoming increasingly more prevalent in the IT landscape. A new IDC study has found that of the 18.5 million software developers in the world, about 7.5 million (roughly 40 percent) are “hobbyist developers,” which is what IDC calls people who write code even though it is not their primary occupation. The boom in hobbyist programmers should cheer computer literacy advocates.IDC estimates there are almost 29 million ICT-skilled workers in the world as we enter 2014, including 11 million professional developers.

The Challenge of Cross-language Interoperability will be more and more talked. Interfacing between languages will be increasingly important. You can no longer expect a nontrivial application to be written in a single language. With software becoming ever more complex and hardware less homogeneous, the likelihood of a single language being the correct tool for an entire program is lower than ever. The trend toward increased complexity in software shows no sign of abating, and modern hardware creates new challenges. Now, mobile phones are starting to appear with eight cores with the same ISA (instruction set architecture) but different speeds, some other streaming processors optimized for different workloads (DSPs, GPUs), and other specialized cores.

Just another new USB connector type will be pushed to market. Lightning strikes USB bosses: Next-gen ‘type C’ jacks will be reversible article tells that USB is to get a new, smaller connector that, like Apple’s proprietary Lightning jack, will be reversible. Designed to support both USB 3.1 and USB 2.0, the new connector, dubbed “Type C”, will be the same size as an existing micro USB 2.0 plug.

2,130 Comments

  1. Tomi Engdahl says:

    AMD Open-Sources VCE Video Encode Engine Code
    http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTU5MTc

    AMD is doing another large and important open-source graphics driver code drop this morning. This morning AMD is publishing their VCE code that allows for hardware-based video encoding.

    Reply
  2. Tomi Engdahl says:

    It’s Satya! Microsoft VP Nadella named CEO as Bill Gates steps down
    Server boss steps up to the plate, ends months of fevered speculation
    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/02/04/satya_nadella_new_microsoft_ceo/

    Microsoft’s new CEO is the executive running its $20bn server, tools and cloud computing businesses: Satya Nadella.

    Reply
  3. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Is Google building SKYNET? Ad kingpin buys AI firm DeepMind
    First robots, then military hardware – now it’s BRAINS like Terminator mastermind
    By Brid-Aine Parnell, 27th January 2014
    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/01/27/google_deep_mind_buy/

    Reply
  4. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Yes, HP will still sue you if you make cartridges for its inkjet printers
    Claims fresh court wins in Germany and Poland
    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/01/29/hp_inkjet_cartridge_lawsuits/

    HP is trumpeting new victories in its longstanding war against makers of ink cartridges that work in its inkjet printers, having scored recent legal wins in Germany and Poland.

    HP had argued that BestUse’s inkjet cartridges violated HP’s patents on ink-spraying tech

    Reply
  5. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Microsoft Board names Satya Nadella as CEO
    Feb. 04, 2014
    http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/press/2014/feb14/02-04newspr.aspx

    Bill Gates steps up to new role as Technology Advisor; John Thompson assumes role as Chairman of Board of Directors.

    Reply
  6. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Sony looking to sell PC business to investment fund
    http://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Deals/Sony-looking-to-sell-PC-business-to-investment-fund

    Sony is in talks to unload its sluggish personal computer operations to investment fund Japan Industrial Partners, part of a business overhaul designed to shift focus to smartphones, The Nikkei learned Tuesday.

    Reply
  7. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Firefox 27 arrives with simultaneous Social API services, SPDY 3.1 and TLS 1.2 support, more languages on Android
    http://thenextweb.com/apps/2014/02/04/firefox-27-arrives-simultaneous-social-api-services-tls-1-2-support-languages-android/#!uszxP

    Reply
  8. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Meet the Asus Chromebox, a $179 fanless mini-desktop
    Box includes Intel Haswell CPUs, good selection of ports, Chrome OS.
    http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/02/meet-the-asus-chromebox-a-179-fanless-mini-desktop/

    Google’s Chrome OS continues to show up on more and more devices, and while the majority of them are laptops, it looks like desktop users are going to have quite a few options as well.

    Chromebox is the same on the inside as many recent Intel Chromebooks

    Reply
  9. Tomi Engdahl says:

    10W Bay Trail-D Coming To Market from GIGABYTE and Biostar
    by Ian Cutress on February 4, 2014 10:36 AM EST
    http://www.anandtech.com/show/7737/10w-bay-traild-coming-to-market-from-gigabyte-and-biostar

    What is perhaps more surprising is the pricing. The Biostar motherboard is currently available for $56 with a $60 MSRP – the GIGABYTE motherboard, and the MSI one at CES, should be around $60 as well. However this SoC, sold by Intel, is listed as $72 tray price (i.e. in batches of 1000).

    The purpose for Bay Trail-D is tablet like performance in a desktop form factor, with perhaps the added advantage of expandability and connectors.

    Reply
  10. Tomi Engdahl says:

    “Microsoft could overtake Apache within the next few months, ending Apache’s 17+ year reign as the most common web server.”

    Source: http://tech.slashdot.org/story/14/02/04/1357232/will-microsoft-iis-overtake-apache

    Reply
  11. Tomi Engdahl says:

    World’s Many Databases Unite to Form One Simple Super-Service
    http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2014/02/orchestrate/

    Choosing a database used to be simple

    The trouble is that each of these new databases has its own strengths and weaknesses

    Orchestrate.io wants to solve this problem.
    The company’s online database service, which launched today, provides a single place to store your data, but it can act like several different types of database at once.

    Orchestrate launches Chameleon-like database service at developers
    Shape-shifting query engine makes for useful rapid prototyping service
    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/02/05/orchestrate_dbaas/

    The Orchestrate.io service launched on Tuesday and gives developers access to a cloud-based data repository that stores JSON objects that can be queried through a variety of database lenses, such as: a standard key-value repository, text search, a graph store, time-ordered events, and – soon, we’re told – a geo-spatial API as well.

    The whole service is designed for developers that don’t want to manage multiple databases and database add-ons. Therefore, it’s likely to be of little interest to enterprises beyond as a rapid prototyping tool

    Reply
  12. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Most Popular Programming Languages of 2014
    February 3, 2014

    For the third year in a row, Python retains it’s #1 dominance followed by Java, C++, and Javascript.

    - See more at: http://blog.codeeval.com/codeevalblog/2014#.UvIy7rSgTpu

    Reply
  13. Tomi Engdahl says:

    HP To Charge For Service Packs and Firmware For Out-of-Warranty Customers
    http://slashdot.org/story/14/02/05/0258244/hp-to-charge-for-service-packs-and-firmware-for-out-of-warranty-customers

    “In a move that is sure to put a wedge between HP and their customers, today, HP has issued an email informing all existing Enterprise Server customers”

    Reply
  14. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Bitcoin hash-rate exceeds total computing power of all the world’s computers!
    Posted on February 3, 2014 by Tarandeep Gill
    http://tarangill.com/2014/02/03/bitcoin-networks-computing-power/

    Bitcoin’s hash-rate (the total computing power of the network, defined as number of SHA-256 hashes it can compute per second) has most likely exceeded the total computing power of all the world’s computers.

    Reply
  15. Tomi Engdahl says:

    DARPA publishes tons of Open Source code by opening a website that aggregates source code and other data for all public DARPA-funded projects

    Darpa Open Catalog
    http://www.darpa.mil/OpenCatalog/index.html

    Reply
  16. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Microsoft’s new CEO: The technology isn’t his problem
    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/02/05/nadella_as_ceo/

    The question, therefore, is: can Microsoft’s third CEO help the firm reclaim its place among the technology innovators?

    That is Nadella’s primary mission, I’d argue, and that is why he got the job. Nadella first and foremost is seen as a technologist – a maker and a coder.

    Another factor that landed Nadella the position is that he’s a safe bet.

    he has the experience in an area Microsoft needs to crack – the web.

    Microsoft had to capitalise more on web and mobile.

    Microsoft has already taken steps to remedy its position, albeit late in the day.

    Reply
  17. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Google will dodge MASSIVE FINES in EU by ‘promoting’ rival search services
    But charges for some results remain, grumble ad giant’s foes
    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/02/05/google_to_promote_rival_search_results_to_dodge_ec_sanctions/

    Reply
  18. Tomi Engdahl says:

    PEAK MOBILE: IT biz spending forecasts SLASHED
    World has reached tablet, smartphone saturation point – analysts
    http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2014/02/05/idc_2014_black_book_forecast/

    We’re not even a full week into the second month of 2014 and beancounter IDC has lowered its global IT spending forecasts, amid volatility in emerging markets and on fears that smartphone and slab sales have peaked.

    “The inevitable slowdown in the explosive pace of smartphone and tablets is masking an underlying improvement in many areas of IT spending,”

    Reply
  19. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Life support’s ABOUT to be switched off, but XP’s suddenly COOL again
    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/02/05/win_xp_dead_cat_bounce/

    Windows XP has enjoyed a second resurgence in popularity, despite its looming end-of-support date.

    Reply
  20. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Sony sells its VAIO PC business, makes TV arm its own subsidiary
    http://www.engadget.com/2014/02/06/sony-sells-vaio/

    The company says it’s no longer designing and developing PC products, while manufacturing and sales will wrap up after the company’s final VAIO range goes on sale globally. It has decided to focus on those post-PC products (yep, smartphones and tablets)

    Sony will cut a total of 5,000 jobs worldwide (1,500 in Japan) by the end of the 2014

    Reply
  21. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Inside the Microsoft CEO Search: How Satya Nadella Was Chosen
    Gates, Ballmer and Board Debated as They Went From 100 Candidates to One
    http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/SB10001424052702304450904579364693178656198-lMyQjAxMTA0MDAwNTEwNDUyWj

    Reply
  22. Tomi Engdahl says:

    ARM, Microsoft and AMD’s open-source union will disrupt x86 server market
    Analysis: Server Base System Architecture aims to future-proof the data centre
    http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/feature/2327077/arm-microsoft-and-amds-open-source-union-will-disrupt-x86-server-market

    CHIP DESIGNER ARM announced at the Open Compute Project (OCP) Summit last week that servers based on its architecture have taken a step forward with the arrival of ARM v8-A based 64bit servers, known as the Server Base System Architecture (SBSA) specification.

    The public release of the SBSA simplifies development processes for the entire ecosystem

    AMD announced that sampling of its first ARM based server processor is “imminent”.

    Reply
  23. Tomi Engdahl says:

    The fuss over Samsung’s Magazine UX is all about fragmentation
    New Pro tablets will run customizable user interface that users can’t remove — to Google’s annoyance
    http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9246023/The_fuss_over_Samsung_s_Magazine_UX_is_all_about_fragmentation

    Samsung announced Tuesday that its four newest Android KitKat tablets will include the somewhat controversial Magazine UX, a customizable user interface (UI) designed by Samsung, not Google, that runs on the home screen to give users direct access to content with a single touch

    “Users do not have the option to ‘turn off’ Magazine UX,” the spokesman said. “It is built into the Pro series tablets”

    Reply
  24. Tomi Engdahl says:

    How many keys can one keyboard have? Do I hear 200? 300? More?
    Transylvanian dedicated Photoshop controller gives you ALL THE KEYS
    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/02/06/shortcuts_photoshop_keyboard/

    “one key shortcuts system” for Adobe Photoshop

    The Shortcut-S works with both Windows and OS X

    If the Kickstarter goal is met, Neica says he expects to produce 2,000 units

    Reply
  25. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Satya Nadella ‘a sheep, a follower’ says rogue ex-Microsoftie
    ‘He can neither spell consumer nor device’ says Joachim Kempin
    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/02/06/satya_nadella_a_sheep_a_follower_says_rogue_exmicrosoftie/

    Dan Lyons, the writer behind Fake Steve Jobs, has found someone willing to bucket incoming Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

    Reply
  26. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Cloudera lights Spark under Hadoop
    Get the elephant to dance
    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/02/06/cloudera_lights_spark_under_hadoop/

    Cloudera has announced commercial support services for the Apache Spark machine learning and stream processing environment.

    Spark claims to outperform its big-data sibling, MapReduce, either on memory or on disk.

    Reply
  27. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Just how solid is cloud storage in 2014
    Airy-fairy vapour or something firmer?
    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/02/06/storage_in_the_cloud_in_2013/

    We’re not bothering with private clouds here; they’re enterprise IT re-branded, re-tooled and re-priced but they are still private enterprise IT resources. No, it’s the public cloud, accessed remotely and made available through a cloud services provider (CSP) that we’re considering in this review.

    This area is dominated by the AGA threesome of Amazon, Google and (Microsoft) Azure who each have large consumer businesses buttressing their enterprise cloud efforts.

    Reply
  28. Tomi Engdahl says:

    ASUS Chromebox: Fanless Haswell in a NUC-like Form Factor, Starting at $179
    by Anand Lal Shimpi on February 4, 2014 9:00 AM EST
    http://www.anandtech.com/show/7735/asus-chromebox-fanless-haswell-in-a-nuclike-form-factor-starting-at-179

    With hopes of chipping away at the low end Windows PC market, Google enlisted ASUS’ help in putting together a small form factor desktop machine running Chrome OS. The result is the ASUS Chromebox, a NUC-like machine running Google’s browser based OS.

    Reply
  29. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Solid State Thrives as Storage Declines
    HDDs & ODDs Down, SSDs Up
    http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1320899&

    The computer-related storage industry suffered a 5% decline in shipments last year, according to a new report from IHS, despite the market for solid-state drives (SSD) nearly doubling.

    Blame goes to a decline in hard-disk drive (HDD) sales

    Combined shipment units of HDD, SDD, and ODD in 2013 were 755 million units

    HDD dropped by 7% from 475.4 million to 444.4 million

    ODD shipment declined by 12%

    “The SSD sector is easily the most promising”

    Reply
  30. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Commoditisation. It’s HAPPENING. This is NOT a drill
    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/02/07/commoditisation_and_the_cloud_to_change_storage_forever/

    Your mileage may vary somewhat but 2014 is already beginning to get interesting from a storage point of view.

    Perhaps the innovation has stopped? Or perhaps we’re finally beginning to see the impact of Google/Amazon and Azure on the Enterprise market. Pricing models seem to be being thrown out of the window as the big vendors try to work out how to defend themselves against the big cloud players.

    Historically high margins are being sacrificed in order to maintain footprint and vendors are competing against themselves internally.

    Reply
  31. Tomi Engdahl says:

    You can’t resell Valve games in Germany – court
    http://www.muktware.com/2014/02/cant-resell-valve-games-germany-court/20773

    It’s bad new for users who lose the right to re-sell their digital content.

    In July 2012 the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that users have the right to re-sell downloaded content and a publisher can’t stop that via EULA. US companies are extremely aggressive over ‘ownership’ of content and taking away control from users.

    Reply
  32. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Friends don’t do tech support for friends running Windows XP
    If your mates want an upgrade, get ‘em to buy a new PC says Microsoft
    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/02/10/friends_dont_do_tech_support_for_friends_running_windows_xp/

    Microsoft has thoughtfully posted that advice here, suggesting”you may know someone” running XP and will happily help a friend to upgrade.

    “The easiest path to Windows 8.1 is with new devices,” the post intones.

    Redmond has decided it is your duty as a technologically-literate person to point your acquaintances in the direction of the nearest retailer,

    Reply
  33. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Debian technical committee votes for systemd over Upstart
    http://www.muktware.com/2014/02/debian-technical-committee-votes-systemd-upstart/20780

    Debian technical committee was discussing the default init system for Debian and it boiled down to basically systemd

    Systemd has become the preferred choice of all major GNU/Linux desktop operating systems.

    Most developers are against Canonical’s Upstart for technical as well as legal reasons

    Reply
  34. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Rebuilding my home PC for Linux and Windows: What works best?
    This commentard needs your input
    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/02/08/readers_corner_windows_guest_kvm_or_xen/

    Reply
  35. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Wine On Android Starts Allowing Windows Binaries On Android/ARM
    http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/14/02/10/0251201/wine-on-android-starts-allowing-windows-binaries-on-androidarm

    “Wine on Android is happening slowly but surely … Wine is now in a state to be able to run your favorite Windows (x86) game on your Android-powered ARM device”

    Reply
  36. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Mozilla takes a page from Google with sync-friendly Firefox Accounts
    One login to sync it all
    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/02/08/mozilla_firefox_accounts/

    The Mozilla Foundation has taken a further step into the world of online services with the introduction of Firefox Accounts.

    Mozilla’s browser moves closer to offering what Google has delivered with Chrome for years.

    The new version of Firefox Sync for Firefox Accounts
    log into a single account and automatically receive the same browser experience on multiple instances of Firefox – including the desktop browser, Firefox for Mobile, and Firefox OS.

    Reply
  37. Tomi Engdahl says:

    At Sochi Olympics, Crowdsourced OpenStreetMap Trounces Google Maps
    http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2014/02/sochi-maps/

    OpenStreetMap, the crowdsourced Wikipedia of cartography, looks to have much better coverage of the Olympic sites

    Google still has a huge advantage in navigation — typing an address into your phone and getting step-by-step directions to your destination.

    Reply
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  40. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Is FCoE faster than Fibre Channel? Who knows? Just run your own tests
    Cisco camp takes exception to Brocade-funded Evaluator Group study
    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/02/11/fcoe_faster_than_fibre_channel_who_knows/

    The Cisco Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) supporters’ club has taken grave exception to what it views as a deeply flawed Evaluator Group study, funded by Fibre Channel (FC) enthusiasts Brocade, which showed FC was faster than FCoE.

    FCoE supporters say the study shows no such thing

    Reply
  41. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Google Cloud Needs Lower Latency
    http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1320945&

    Datacenter chips need lower latencies to keep up with the rise of sensor data, a Google fellow told attendees at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC). New kinds of computer architectures and security techniques will emerge to handle the challenges, added technical executives from ARM, Intel, and Fujitsu in an evening panel.

    Specifically, Barroso called for help with an emerging problem of microsecond-class latencies between two systems communicating inside a datacenter.

    Reply
  42. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Group Forms to Drive NVDIMM Adoption
    http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1320947&

    The Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) has created a special interest group to foster the adoption of nonvolatile DIMM (NVDIMM), which it sees as the early days of computing architectures that combine storage and memory as a single entity.

    NVDIMMs are persistent memory modules that reside on the DDR DRAM channel, combining volatile DRAM memory and nonvolatile flash memory. Under normal power conditions, an NVDIMM operates exactly like a regular DRAM module. During a power failure or system crash, it is powered by a supercapacitor pack. The data within the DRAM is transferred to the flash and can be restored to the DRAM when normal conditions resume.

    Reply
  43. Tomi Engdahl says:

    ISSCC Keynote: No Silicon, Software Silos
    http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1320954&

    Closer cooperation between chip and app developers is needed to scale the rising wall in energy efficiency that’s making it hard to fulfill expectations of smaller, cheaper, faster systems, said the opening keynoter at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC). Stanford professor Mark Horowitz called for a combination of specialized silicon and better algorithms to combat stalled clock frequency and rising power consumption.

    Reply
  44. Tomi Engdahl says:

    He Said She Said – How Blogs are Changing the Scientific Discourse
    http://wavewatching.net/2014/02/09/he-said-she-said-how-blogs-are-changing-the-scientific-discourse

    The debate about D-Wave’s “quantumness” shows no signs of abating, hitting a new high note

    Reply
  45. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Server tech is BORING these days. Where’s tall the shiny new goodies?
    Cisco, Dell, HP – let’s get cracking, guys
    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/02/11/server_supercharging_bandaids/

    Once upon a time, a mere 10 years or so ago, servers had direct-attached disks or network-attached disk arrays. The flash in the arrays – SSDs primarily, but also in the controllers – made data access faster.

    However multi-core, multi-threaded CPUs have an almost insatiable appetite for data

    The response to this was to start bringing the hottest data into the server itself, initially by caching on PCIe flash cards cards; think Fusion-io and others. In-memory databases were possible, if the return justified the high cost – which it didn’t for most applications.

    Still, PCIe flash is not as fast as memory. So, latterly, fresh technology brings the data even closer to the CPU by placing it on the memory bus

    Each one of these technologies is a bandage for the disk and network-attached storage data access latency problem.

    Reply
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