HPE and Memory-Driven Computing: Has the future arrived?

Imagine a computer with hundreds of petabytes of fast memory that remembers everything about your history, helps inform real time situational decisions, and enables you to predict, prevent, and respond to whatever the future brings.

That computer just might be here, thanks to Hewlett Packard Labs.

HPE’s Memory-Driven Computing is the result of HPE’s first chapter of research into memory driven computer systems.

The company showcased the concept at HPE Discover is Las Vegas last June. The idea behind it is to redesign the fundamental architecture of computing, and break away from the traditional computer model.

Paolo Faraboschi, HPE fellow and vice president, Hewlett Packard Labs, says this will have a ‘dramatic impact’ in overcoming the limitations of today’s technologies.

“For the past 60 years, we have been using the same computer systems and the only thing changing has been the massive amounts of data growing exponentially from our online world,” he says.

Faraboschi says by 2020, 30 billion connected devices will generate unprecedented amounts of data our legacy systems cannot keep up.

“Clearly we are being swamped with data. Back in 2007/2008 we started talking about the data deluge problem because of the number of devices per person, and because of IoT the number of devices around our environment is exploding,” says Faraboschi.

“At the same time, scaling of the memory technologies that are at the foundation of computing today will significantly slow down. We will need transformational changes to the way in which we collect, process, store, and analyse that data,” he adds.

HPE claims its Memory-Driven Computing is a new kind of computer that allows you to do things 'you can’t even conceive today’.