IBM unveils new supercomputer breakthrough

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By Stevie Smith Dec 7, 2007, 10:53 GMT

Leading computer company IBM (a.k.a. Big Blue) has this week revealed a technological breakthrough that it believes will bring single-chip supercomputers one step closer to reality. IBM reveals breakthrough in bringing supercomputing down to a single chip. Credit: IBM.

IBM reveals breakthrough in bringing supercomputing down to a single chip. Credit: IBM.While current supercomputers require massive energy-consuming machines to convey their pure processing power, Reuters reports that IBM has successfully converted electric signals into light pulses, resulting in (Mach-Zehnder) electro-optic modulators up to 1,000 times smaller than silicon photonics modulators.The tiny electro-optic modulators, which are small enough to fit onto a single processor, would replace conventional wire connectors existing between separate cores on a chip, thereby sidestepping multi-core heat production and excessive energy consumption while massively boosting processing potential."Just like fibre optic networks have enabled the rapid expansion of the Internet by enabling users to exchange huge amounts of data from anywhere in the world, IBM’s technology is bringing similar capabilities to the computer chip," outlined Will Green, the lead scientist on IBM’s ongoing research project to connect hundreds of processing cores through one small piece of silicon.Green explained that replacing wire connectors with light-based modulators could possibly lead to core speeds increasing a hundred fold while requiring only a tiny fraction of the current power usage (the equivalent of a light bulb). He also added that IBM had only utilised standard industry processes during its creation process, which should see such advanced technology produced at a commercial level in various markets in around ten to fifteen years.IBM’s supercomputer project has been under way for around five years and is partially funded by a defence research agency connected to the U.S. government.

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BlendwireDec 22nd, 2007 - 14:44:49

I'm going to post about this at blendwire.com. Pretty amazing where technology is headed. This will spill over into everything, from cell phones to graphics cards, to what computes our cars.

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