Justin Rattner, CTO of Intel revealed a brand-new chip design yesterday that he dubbed “Single-chip Cloud Computing” or SCC. A 48-core prototype was unveiled, built using Intel’s 45nm manufacturing process.
Each of the 48 cores are fully programmable and are connected via a “2-D mesh” that is capable of speeds up to 256Gb/s. It is this “mesh” that allows Intel to compare the chip to so-called “Cloud Servers” which use hardwired networks to share a workload.
One of the most important aspects of this experimental chip is the concept of “islands” that was introduced. While things get a little complicated here, let’s just point out that Intel has introduced a new concept of how power and frequency is modulated. The end result is that this chip can function on as little as 25 watts and a maximum of 125 watts at full power.
This can be compared to today’s dual and quad-core processors, which run at around the same wattage. That is a serious decrease in wattage compared to the increase in computing power!
You may be asking as to why this prototype is more important than the 80-core test chip known as the Terra Core unveiled three years ago. Well, the answer is that this “prototype” can actually be used, while the Terra Core was more a proof-of-concept.
The 48-Core example contains fully-functional x86 IA cores that are actually programmable. Yes, for you Linux aficionados out there, you CAN use this prototype to boot a kernel!
Intel is planning to release a six-core processor next year (codenamed Gulftown), the 48-core prototype is still too expensive to manufacture commercially as yet.
To my friends at Intel: When you guys are done playing with your new toy, can I borrow it for a couple of years? You know, just until I can get my Mom to buy me one?