Embracing computational variety
May 14, 2019
May 14, 2019
For decades, general computing power has been increasing exponentially. But demand keeps growing. Compute-hungry machine learning algorithms, big data analytics, and mobile and edge devices are just the latest developments to drive up enterprise requirements for computing power.
The problem? General purpose compute just can’t keep increasing performance to meet this growing demand. Moore’s Law—the observation that computing power doubles every two years or so—has held true for years. But the point at which enhancing CPU performance at the same rate becomes simply uneconomical is fast approaching. Some think it might happen as early as 2021.
So what’s next? As CPU architecture hits its limits, enterprises will increasingly turn to specialized infrastructure to meet their needs for more computational power. Enterprise infrastructure is about to get far more varied.
Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) outperform general-purpose CPUs when large blocks of data are processed in parallel.
Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) are hard-wired for a particular purpose offering greater speed and power-efficiency.
Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) can be reconfigured after manufacturing, excelling in parallel applications and power-constrained environments.
The emerging field of quantum computing promises to vastly outperform classical computing in certain domains such as simulating quantum systems (including molecules).
Bio-inspired computing draws insights from biological systems to pursue performance gains in fields like perception and multisensory integration.
Harnessing light to perform calculations, optical computers could potentially solve some problems faster than silicon chips could.
How will enterprises blend general and special-purpose compute in this next-generation heterogeneous infrastructure environment? By understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each processor type–and deploying them where they can add most value:
The key is to understand the strengths and weaknesses of specialized hardware options, ensuring each processor type is applied to the task it’s best suited to.
It’s time to prepare for the coming era of heterogenous computing infrastructure. Here are some recommendations to guide enterprises’ thinking as they plan for the addition of ever more specialized hardware:
In recent years, the homogeneity, commoditization, and cost-effectiveness offered by virtual machines and cloud computing have enabled enterprises to solve problems once thought too expensive to address, helping established companies evolve and grow and sparking a host of new digital native organizations.
Now the infrastructure landscape is changing once again. A more heterogeneous computing infrastructure will offer enterprises the opportunity to find revolutionary solutions to some of their most computationally challenging problems.
It’s time to embrace the heterogeneous future and start planning now. There are challenges and obstacles to overcome. But the early movers have an opportunity to capture an outsized share of the business innovation, optimization and even revolution on offer.