HPE Pulls Apart ‘The Machine’ To Spin Money From Memory-Driven Computing

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) will break off parts The Machine and integrate the tech into other products and services.

Speaking at HPE Discover 2016 in London, HPE chief executive Meg Whitman revealed the move to commercialise memory driven computing was the latest evolution of a  project that has been chugging along at HPE Labs for the past couple of years.

“The Machine programme is not only about the future, in fact we believe in The Machine technology so much that we’re embedding them into our core technologies today,” she said.

Money and The Machine

Essentially, The Machine is a project by HPE Labs to rework the computer architecture, moving from reliance on central processor power to large amounts of on-board memory to cope with the need to compute ever increasing amounts of data found in organisations across all industries.

HPE revealed a working prototype of its memory-driven computer demonstrating how it has made a system on a chip partnered with blocks of persistent memory and inked via an optical ‘photonics’ fabric network for high speed data transfer.

However, despite the tech showcase, HPE does not appear to be looking at commercialising The Machine as complete platform in the near future. Instead it will use the parts of the technology is has created with the project and inject them into other data centre products it has, such as adding photonics into its Synergy composable system of compute and storage resources.

HPE will continue with The Machine research and will likely keep taking components from the memory-driven computer and add them to its portfolio of products and services over the next decade.

“And our roadmap for the next several years includes the introduction of key technologies like silicon photonics, advanced non-volatile memory and memory fabric,” said Whitman. “We’re also taking steps to futureproof other products like enabling Synergy systems to accept future photonic technologies currently in advanced development.”

Whitman noted that some of the persistent memory fabric had been has found its way into HPE’s ProLiant servers.

HPE appears to be looking at mixing more of its products together in order to appeal to companies pursuing digital transformation doctrines.

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