Thought Intel was done busting out new slabs of The long run at IDF ? Wrong. Justin Rattner, the firm’s chief technology officer, just took the stage here in San Francisco so that it will showcase a trifecta of latest concepts, all of which have been borne out of analysis in Intel Labs. The primary, and maybe most notable, is the Near Threshold Voltage Processor (code-named “Claremont”), which depends on novel, ultra-low voltage circuits that dramatically reduce energy consumption — like EnerJ , but not. How so? Well, by “operating with reference to threshold, or turn-on voltage, of the transistors,” it’s in a position to scream when needed or lessen dramatically (below ten milliwatts) when the workload is light. In case you are curious as to only how low it is, we’re told that it’s low enough to maintain running while powered only by a solar cell the scale of a postage stamp. Sadly, the research chip isn’t destined to become a product itself, but Intel’s hoping that the certainty gained may lead to “integration of scalable near-threshold voltage circuits across a variety of future products, reducing power consumption by five-fold or more and increasing always-on capability to a much broader range of computing devices.”
As for demos? A smattering of multicore / multiprocessor sessions aided Intel in upping its bragging rights, and we were informed that coding for multicore setups is “easier than the clicking makes out to be.” The outfit also took the chance to release a Parallel JS engine to the open source crowd, adding data-parallel capabilities to JavaScript to purportedly “accelerate browser-based services reminiscent of computer vision, cryptography, and 3D games by as much as eight-fold.” Furthermore, a newly revealed Hybrid Memory Cube — complete with seven times better energy efficiency than today’s DDR3 memory — was also unwrapped. More details are located inside the links below, and we have your unveiling video embedded just beyond the break.
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NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
* New “Near Threshold Voltage Processor” from Intel Labs challenges the computing system established order with an experimental Pentium®-class Intel® architecture CPU delivering five times the energy efficiency and the power to run off a solar cell the scale of a postage stamp.
* Intel Labs released a “Parallel JS” engine to the open source community, adding data-parallel capabilities to JavaScript™ to hurry up browser-based services including computer vision, cryptography, and three-D games by as much as 8-fold.
* Intel Labs unveiled the Hybrid Memory Cube with 7-times better energy efficiency than today’s DDR3 memory at the side of the top data rates ever seen in one DRAM device.
* Intel CTO Justin Rattner highlighted the accelerating impact of multi- and lots of-core computing, expanding beyond HPC with developers solving a variety of everyday computing problems on both clients and servers.
INTEL DEVELOPER FORUM, San Francisco, Sept. 15, 2011 – Citing the impact of multi- and lots of-core computing hitting the mainstream and new developments in extreme scale computing as examples, Justin Rattner, Intel’s chief technology officer, told an Intel Developer Forum audience that the way forward for computing is being accelerated.
“Since 2006 Intel and the IA developer community have worked in partnership to achieve the possibility of multi- and lots of-core computing, with accelerating impact beyond high-performance computing to solving quite a lot of real-world computing problems on clients and servers,” Rattner said during his Day 3 keynote in San Francisco. “What we’ve demonstrated today only scratches the skin of what’s going to be possible with many-core and extreme scale computing systems sooner or later.”
Computing to the Extreme
Intel continues to push tech beyond today’s limits, searching for a higher big leaps that take computing to the following levels of performance with less power consumption than is feasible today. Let’s say, Rattner demonstrated a Near-Threshold Voltage Processor using novel, ultra-low voltage circuits that dramatically reduce energy consumption by operating just about threshold, or turn-on voltage, of the transistors. This idea CPU runs fast when needed but drops power to below 10 milliwatts when its workload is light – low enough to maintain running while powered only by a solar cell the scale of a postage stamp. While the research chip is not going to become a product itself, the result of this research could lead on to the combination of scalable near-threshold voltage circuits across a variety of future products, reducing power consumption by 5-fold or more and lengthening always-on capability to a much wider range of computing devices. Technologies akin to this would further Intel Labs’ goal to minimize energy consumption per computation by 100- to1000-fold for applications starting from massive data processing at one end of the spectrum to terascale-in-a-pocket on the other.
The Hybrid Memory Cube, an idea DRAM developed by Micron* in collaboration with Intel, demonstrates a brand new method to memory design delivering a 7-fold improvement in energy-efficiency over today’s DDR3. Hybrid Memory Cube uses a stacked memory chip configuration, forming a compact “cube,” and uses a brand new, highly efficient memory interface which sets the bar for energy consumed per bit transferred while supporting data rates of 1 trillion bits per second. This research may lead to dramatic improvements in servers optimized for cloud computing in addition to ultrabooks, televisions, tablets and smartphones
Multicore’s Many Uses
Multi-core, the practice of establishing a couple of processing engine right into a single chip, has become the accepted approach to increase performance while keeping power consumption low. While many-core is more of a design perspective, in preference to incrementally adding cores in a normal approach, it’s reinventing chip design in keeping with the idea that prime core counts is the brand new norm.
Rattner highlighted the progress multi-core computing has seen since he introduced Intel’s first dual-core processor at IDF 5 years ago. Today Intel’s multi- and lots-core processors are hosting a myriad of significant applications across quite a lot of industry sectors, including some surprising new uses within the rapidly advancing world of high-core-count computing.
Rattner described one of the crucial latest applications of this technology along side the software tools and programming techniques which are enabling developers to harness the facility of multi- and plenty of-core computing in different key areas, including:
* Faster Web Apps: Extending JavaScript™ with data-parallel programming features, using a just-released experimental Parallel JS open-source engine from Intel Labs, to enable a brand new class of browser-based apps in domains equivalent to photo and video editing, physics simulation, and three-D gaming for desktop and mobile personal computers, including Ultrabooks™.
* More Responsive Cloud Services: Best-in-class increases in queries per second for Memcached applications using the multi-core capabilities of Intel’s 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ microprocessor to enable the world’s largest Web sites to enhance their Web app responsiveness and minimize user wait times for critical data.
* Improved PC Client Security: Parallel cryptographic and facial recognition services to enhance security on Ultrabooks and standard notebook and desktop personal computers through the use of the entire IA and graphics cores on 2nd Generation Intel Core microprocessors in a heterogeneous fashion.
* Lower price Wireless Infrastructure: Collaborative research with China Mobile to interchange the custom and expensive base-station hardware used on cell towers today with a completely programmable and much more cost-effective, software-based PC alternative.
* Really Big Science: Unlocking the mysteries of the universe through the use of clusters of Intel multi-core processors at CERN* to greatly improve their high-energy physics app performance and to quickly port their code to Intel’s upcoming Many Integrated Core (MIC) architecture product family.
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