Most of us love (or dream) to brag about how powerful our PCs are, and how they are far more superior compared to what our friends have. It looks like HP Enterprise took this a bit too seriously when it unveiled its newest supercomputer that it aptly named as ‘The Machine’. Amazingly, the company claimed that The Machine is up to 8,000 faster compared to traditional PCs available currently.
Interestingly, unlike conventional PCs today, The Machine does not rely primarily on ‘special’ processors for computational tasks. Instead, the insanely powerful system will use memory for complex calculations.
In addition, The Machine also uses a rather impressive technology called ‘photonics’, which basically is transition of data between memory modules and the processor through photons. This will allow The Machine to access tons of memory at blinding speeds.
According to HPE, The Machine supercomputer has about eight terabytes of memory and the company claims that it can be upgraded to even hundreds of terabytes of memory in the future.
Alongside the The Machine, HPE has mentioned its plans to develop a new type of memory chip called ‘memristor’. Unlike common RAMs nowadays, memristors will be able to retain data even after they have been powered off.
Unfortunately, The Machine is still only in the prototype stage. HPE is still looking at a 2018 or 2019 launch for the supercomputer; and is hoping that the memristor technology will be ready for mass production by that time.
