Computing Applications

Computing Applications

The dramatic increase of digital content and ubiquitous network connectivity has given rise to the growing trend of cloud-based applications and the requirement for increased server-side compute power. From social networking to distribution of movies and music, demand for an enriched end-user experience and increased performance in next-generation computing applications is never-ending.
Driven by recent multi-core computing, virtualization and processor integration trends, the computing industry is in need of a next-generation main memory solution with higher data rates and lower power. Today more than ever, power consumption is a first order concern, particularly when one considers a server farm can consume over 100 megawatts. The divergence of these two requirements – higher performance and lower power - presents a difficult challenge for the design of future memories.

In addition to power-efficiency challenges, future memory solutions face potential bottlenecks in access efficiency and capacity, both of which become more difficult to solve as memory speeds rise. These challenges are heightened when combined with the memory access requirements of multi-threaded, multi-core processors.