BusinessWeek reports on future processor designs...IBM seems optimistic
First, IBM comes out and says that the Power Processor is their Next Linux and now proclaim Power Architecture is the future.
IBM could be right, but I can't help to see a lot of this as damage control to recent events involving Apple kicking them in the balls days before the Power.org meeting. I wonder what it was like inside the Power.org conference.
This article at eweek.com tells the linux community they have 1 year to get their act together before Apple makes them a permanant niche community. Since IBM is big in linux I wonder just how true this is.
I can't help but think the switch to Intel will eventually catch up with Big Blue in one fashion or another.
It is almost like Steve was pissed he didn't get a 3 Ghz chip.
BusinessWeek magazine
June 20, 2005 issue
"More Life for Moore's Law".
Article Summary (I have a hard copy here at home and no link)
BuisnessWeek reports that future solutions to keeping speeds of processors increasing in sync with Moore?s law are starting to immerge. Current processes rely on shrinking transistors on chips reducing the time needed for electrons to reach their destination. "This year and next they?ll go down to 65 nm, followed by 45 nm by 2010, 32 nm by 2013, and 22 nm by 2016" increasing the speed of processors the old fashioned way.
The next step in increasing speeds without shrinking circuit lines would be the utilization of multicore processors, where more than one processor core is coupled together and both fit on the same semiconductor. There is a big push from Intel to encourage software to take advantage of multicore processors. ?Intel has committed 3,000 of its 10,000 software programmers to help accelerate the shift to multicore designs.? Philip Emma, manager of systems technology and microarchitecture at IBM, predicts that personal computers will likely see a peak of 8 core processors.
The next possible solution is to design ?ways to stack circuitry, layer upon layer into multi-story, 3D structures.? This would allow the pathway distance for electrons to be reduced to 10 microns from 20,000 microns allowing current 90 nm processors to perform similar to 32 nm processors scheduled for 2011. There are challenges to be overcome when stacking transistors one on top of the other and this technology could take as long as 2011 to make an appearance.
"We're going to see a lot of evolution happening very fast,? said Philip Emma.
IBM could be right, but I can't help to see a lot of this as damage control to recent events involving Apple kicking them in the balls days before the Power.org meeting. I wonder what it was like inside the Power.org conference.
This article at eweek.com tells the linux community they have 1 year to get their act together before Apple makes them a permanant niche community. Since IBM is big in linux I wonder just how true this is.
I can't help but think the switch to Intel will eventually catch up with Big Blue in one fashion or another.
It is almost like Steve was pissed he didn't get a 3 Ghz chip.
BusinessWeek magazine
June 20, 2005 issue
"More Life for Moore's Law".
Article Summary (I have a hard copy here at home and no link)
BuisnessWeek reports that future solutions to keeping speeds of processors increasing in sync with Moore?s law are starting to immerge. Current processes rely on shrinking transistors on chips reducing the time needed for electrons to reach their destination. "This year and next they?ll go down to 65 nm, followed by 45 nm by 2010, 32 nm by 2013, and 22 nm by 2016" increasing the speed of processors the old fashioned way.
The next step in increasing speeds without shrinking circuit lines would be the utilization of multicore processors, where more than one processor core is coupled together and both fit on the same semiconductor. There is a big push from Intel to encourage software to take advantage of multicore processors. ?Intel has committed 3,000 of its 10,000 software programmers to help accelerate the shift to multicore designs.? Philip Emma, manager of systems technology and microarchitecture at IBM, predicts that personal computers will likely see a peak of 8 core processors.
The next possible solution is to design ?ways to stack circuitry, layer upon layer into multi-story, 3D structures.? This would allow the pathway distance for electrons to be reduced to 10 microns from 20,000 microns allowing current 90 nm processors to perform similar to 32 nm processors scheduled for 2011. There are challenges to be overcome when stacking transistors one on top of the other and this technology could take as long as 2011 to make an appearance.
"We're going to see a lot of evolution happening very fast,? said Philip Emma.