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Cell-based Server Blade Demonstrated

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the showing-it-off dept.

slashflood writes "Only a few clients in a hotel room near Los Angeles had the chance to see the first Cell based server blade running Linux 2.6.11. 'We demonstrated the prototype to show that Cell continues to mature. The product is expected to have several times higher performance compared to conventional servers,' said an IBM engineer."

4 of 365 comments (clear)

  1. I don't get it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The Cell is just a PPC with 8 little miniprocessors tacked on. The miniprocessors have explicit control over and direct access to the contents of their own cache, but can only access data in awkward ways; and are super-optimized for vector/SIMD instructions and floating point operations, but are not so good at algorithmic or complex flow operations.

    The Cell's bonus processors are absolutely great for DSP and multimedia apps, such as that we see in the Cell.

    But, they are going to be at a strict disadvantage in data retrieval and pushing operations-- which is, incidentally, exactly what most servers, such as a file, web or database server, need to be best at!

    What kind of servers *ARE* these??

    1. Re:I don't get it by chill · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Unless you buy into the whole "utility computing" paradigm, like IBM does. In that case, servers are going to be doing more than just handing up files and indexing databases.

      Using a two-tier or three-tier approach to client/server architecture, with something like a full-duplex GigE connection to fat, diskless clients and you have some real potential.

      A fat client (512+ Mb RAM, 1 CELL processor) that can use the backend for the more heavy-lifting tasks would be a fantastic setup for a lot of businesses.

      -Charles

      --
      Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
  2. ! Graphics only by theid0 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I've been trying to ignore everybody's outspoken assumptions about the Cell being a graphics chip which can't do general processing for a desktop computer. The fact is that it's rightly a multi-core chip with loads of vector processing capacity. It might not be as fast on a single-threaded task, but the software world is going to adapt quickly for this type of setup because it's where the hardware is going. No semiconductor lab can (cost) effectively compete in a megahertz race anymore, so more power = more transistors (more cores).

    Server programs are ahead of the curve at this point because they've had multiple CPUs in abundance for a long time. However, even today it doesn't make sense for games like Doom III to avoid taking advantage of this hardware when possible (for instance, the G4/G5 systems have had dual processors for YEARS but Id won't use them properly). For petessake, calculate audio on one processor and AI on the other...

  3. Re:Very promising technology= investment opportuni by soricine · · Score: 5, Informative

    After you've read Blatchford's write-up, read this for a reality check:

    http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20050124-4551 .html

    It uses such terms as 'hogwash' and 'wild-eyed and completely unsubstantiated claims'. Ouch.