HP Unveils New Super Computer: ‘The Machine’ Promises To Use 80 Times Less Energy

HP has unveiled their new supercomputer that dwarfs the powerful servers of the present; please welcome The Machine.

The Machine is capable of processing 640 TBs of data in one billionth of a second. In 250 nanoseconds, The Machine will process 160 petabytes of data. According to HP, The Machine’s hardware will be about six times more powerful than a current server, and amazingly, consume 80 times less energy. For the average computer user, this means we could have almost every cute kitten photo we desire in the blink of an eye. HP, however, has higher aspirations for The Machine.

According to HP, “You could analyze a trillion customer relationship management records in the blink of an eye. Your doctor could compare your symptoms and genomics with every other patient around the world to improve your health outcomes, instantly, without language barriers or privacy breaches.”

Engadget reports The Machine eliminates soon-to-be obsolete technology like copper by utilizing silicon photonics. Amazingly, the new technology can shrink down to be used in laptops and phones. IFL Science explains The Machine uses “clusters of specialized cores as opposed to a small number of generalized cores.”

The Machine features memristors, which can store information even after a power loss. HP’s memristors are heralded as faster and cheaper than flash drives, DRAM, and disk drives, all while using less energy. By using this new computing device, you’ll be able to use the technology “to answer questions you can’t even ask today.”

Microsoft’s new CEO Satya Nadalla correctly predicted, “I think we’re at the very beginning of what I describe as the ‘post-post-PC era.'” He said consumers are looking for technology that will work across multiple devices. HP says that’s exactly what The Machine will do and more, and why they are writing a new operating system from scratch.

The Machine is designed to handle all of the data from personal devices as well as the ‘Internet of Things,’ which is the tech world’s vision in which everyday objects will also be connected to the internet and communicate with other devices.

This all comes together as Stephen Hawkings warns us, “Artificial intelligence could be a real danger in the not too distant future.” Yet, HP says that without this technology, soon we will not be able to power our enormous data exchanges because the energy consumption needed to support our current technology limits our progress.

The Machine’s technology could “replace a data center’s worth of equipment with a single refrigerator-sized machine,” according to Bloomberg Businessweek. The Machine is expected to be launched by HP within the next three years, leaving technology as we know it in the archives of computing history.