Rethinking computer design

Researchers from Intel Labs have demonstrated an experimental, 48-core Intel processor or “single-chip cloud computer,” that rethinks many of the design approaches used in today’s designs for laptops, PCs and servers. The long-term research goal is to add incredible scaling features to future computers that spur entirely new software applications and human-machine interfaces. The prototype containing 48 fully-programmable
Intel processing cores is the most ever on a single silicon chip. It also includes a high-speed on-chip network for sharing information. Plus, in a glimpse of how computing could become much more energy efficient, the prototype uses newly-invented power management techniques that allow all 48 cores to operate extremely energy efficiently at as little as 25 watts when idle, or at 125 watts when running at maximum performance, about as much as today’s Intel processors and just two standard household light bulbs.
Intel plans to gain a better understanding of how to schedule and coordinate the many cores of this experimental chip for its future mainstream chips. For example, future laptops with processing capability of this magnitude could have “vision” in the same way a human can see objects and motion as it happens, at high accuracy. Imagine, for example, someday interacting with a computer for a virtual dance lesson or on-line shopping that uses a future laptop’s 3D camera and display to show you a “mirror” of yourself wearing the clothes you are interested in. This kind of interaction could eliminate the need for keyboards, remote controls or joysticks for gaming. Some researchers believe computers may even be able to read brain waves, so simply thinking about a command, like dictating words, would happen without speaking.
Intel Labs have nicknamed this test chip a “single-chip cloud computer” because it resembles the organization of datacenters used to create a “cloud” of computing resources over the Internet, a notion of delivering services like online banking, social networking, or online stores to millions of users. Cloud datacenters are comprised of tens to thousands of computers connected by a physically cabled network, distributing large tasks and massive datasets in parallel. Intel’s new experimental research chip uses a similar approach, but all the computers and networks are integrated on a single piece of Intel 45-nanometer high-K, metal-gate silicon about the size of a postage stamp, dramatically reducing the amount of physical computers needed to create a cloud datacenter.