Abstract
Big data and fast data applications are transforming enterprise environments and driving changes in the fundamental basic technologies that make up the data center. Richard will discuss emerging trends in computer architecture, in storage, memory, compute, and network, as well as associated changes in operating system software. In storage, new technologies like SMR and low-latency NAND flash are driving the need for different storage interfaces and in the system software stack. Emerging non-volatile memories likewise require new interfaces and new software mechanisms. The RISC-V open instruction set architecture, and associated trend towards open source cores, will enable a new set of architectural opportunities, including options for large-scale in-memory, compute, for heterogeneous memory (using different types of memory in the same system), and for heterogeneous compute (combining general purpose and accelerator compute engines, sometimes within the same memory coherency domain). These fundamental changes in the core technologies of the datacenter promise to unleash a new set of innovations in system architecture and in how difficult computational problems are solved at scale in a data-centric world.