Labor omnia vincit
(Labour conquers everything)
Virgil, Georgics, 1
It seem while some relationships are falling apart such as the WinTel (Windows and Intel) partnership between software baron Microsoft and chip maker Intel due to pressure from the market emphasis on smartphones and Tablets in which neither company has a major stake as stated in the article “Microsoft, Intel chart separate paths in the post-PC era”, published September 13, 2011, 4:00pm PT By Ryan Kim, GigaOM, some are getting closer in this mysterious world named Silicon Valley.
Amusingly, the odd couple in question, IBM and 3M are attempting to stick it out to the end, Rihanna Umbrella Style, pun very much intended (sorry, couldn’t help it!).
Via a partnership with 3M, famous for its invention of Post-Its, IBM is hoping to develope an adhesive that can bond multiple Processors together in a 3D stack. IBM are the designers of the Jeopardy winning IBM Watson supercomputer as stated in my blog article entitled “IBM Watson on Jeopardy and AI's Future - The Matrix meets The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes” and my Geezam blog article entitled “IBM and the Watson”.
IBM’s pedigree in research and development in the Electronics World as outlined in my blog article entitled “IBM and Research and Developement - Cyborg 009” makes them equal head and shoulders to the Chemical Engineering prowess of 3M in the Organic Chemistry World.
Effectively an Iso-Linear Processor, first of its kind that I know of as stated in the article “IBM, 3M team up on 3D semiconductor 'glue'”, published September 7, 2011 10:56 AM PDT By Larry Dignan, CNET News - Cutting Edge.
If they succeed in the next few months, IBM’s adhesive to bond together Processors in a Vertical Processor Array of Low-Voltage Multi-Core Processors, which I call Iso-Linear due to its non-linear relationship between its processing power and the number of potential Multi-Core Processors in this 3D stack, may herald the coming of a ScOC (Supercomputer on a Chip) at s.t.p (Standard Temperature and Pressure) which is 25 degrees Celsius and 1atm, breaking the 3.6GHz speed barrier.
This on a tight timeline set for a 2013AD debut on Tablets and smartphones. IBM’s first customer to whom they may license this technology? Intel, desperate for a break into these lucrative expanding markets, the main reason for going splitz-ville [American colloquial] from its long time dance partner Microsoft!
Especially with Nvidia now sporting its new Quad-Core CPU/GPU Processor aptly named Kal-El set to make its debut on Android smartphones and Tablets in the Fourth Quarter of 2011AD as reported in my Geezam blog article entitled “Nvidia and the Quad-Core Kal-El CPU – Android leaves A5 Dual-Core Processor in the Dust”.
This kind of innovation coming from IBM being embraced by Intel is not a surprising secondary partnership possibility. Remember, earlier in August 2010AD, Intel had purchased MacAfee with the intention of baking Anti-Virus protection into their Processor firmware designs to enable near real-time Virus protection of the increasingly Terabyte sized hard-drives as stated in the article “Intel to buy McAffee for $7.68 billion”, published August 19, 2010 5:43 AM PDT by Lance Whitney, CNET News - Business Tech?
That US$7.68 billion dollar deal has since cleared EU (European Union) regulators in January 2011AD as stated in the “Intel takeover of McAfee cleared by EU Regulators”, published 26 January 2011 last updated at 18:45 GMT by BBC News so it’s now fully legit.
Back then I had speculated that this was Intel’s initial move towards developing an All-Optical Solar Powered Computer System as stated in my blog article entitled “Intel and LightPeak - Race towards the Sun”. This future design direction by Intel could get them back into the Tablet and smartphone Processor game as it could potentially break the 3.6GHz Processor speeds barrier necessary for supporting such Terabyte sized Hard-Drives, mainly SSD (Solid State Drives) in future Tablets and smartphones without requiring exotic cooling systems.
Such future Terabyte sized SSD’s may also require faster Fiber Optic connectivity to the motherboard, as with an All-Optical Solar Powered Computer System with real-time Virus protection, faster memory and connections to the motherboard are essential.
This seemed very likely with the debut of ThunderBolt, Intel’s 100GBps capable external Fiber Optic Connectivity standard on the Apple MacBook Pro in February 2011AD as chronicled in my blog article entitled “MacBook Pro and Intel LightPeak - Thunderbolt and the Fantastic Mr. Fox”.
Later my hopes got amped up a bit when ThunderBolt made its debut on the revamped Apple Macbook Air on Wednesday July 20th 2011AD as also chronicled in my blog article entitled “Apple MacBook Airs and Intel UltraBooks cometh – Time for a Common Standard on Power Adaptors”. ThunderBolt Peripherals and Thunderbolt on WinTel PC’s are on my radar………if PC’s will exist in the future.
Most likely this was after Apple Engineers did their tests and determine that the Thunderbolt Port, due to its high transfer rate, would not significantly sap the stellar thirty (30) days on standby and five (5) hours full usage battery power of the Apple MacBook Air as stated in my Geezam Blog article entitled “MacBook Air and FLASH-based Harddrives - The Quest for Instant On”.
Intel had previously developed the low power Sandy Bridge GPU/CPU that combined a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) onto a single flat planar silicon wafer substrate to make a Processor that can do graphics. This saved PC makers on the cost of including a separate GPU design in their Laptop and PC Designs. Sandy Bridge made its debut on the Apple Macbook Pro in February 2011AD.
Intel later introduced the Ivy Bridge 3D Processor with its 3D CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) fast switching Gate Logic. But, I, with my imaginative flair, speculated on the possibility that this may be a move towards my suggestion of an All-Optical Processor design, as silicon traces to carry light pulses would be three-dimensional in scale as per my blog article entitled “Intel and LightPeak - Race towards the Sun”.
It may also mark the development of an Iso-Linear Processor 3D Processor, akin to the crystalline Processors often seen in Star Trek: The Next Generation whenever the Starship Enterprise’s Engineer, Geordi La Forge, had to open up panels in order to change them out due to being damaged or to make modifications to the ship’s functionality as imagined in my blog article entitled “ Intel & Poison Ivy Bridge Processors - 22nm in an Iso-Linear of Their Own”.
So IBM’s partnership with 3M to develope this unique curing adhesive to stack layers upon layers of multi-Core Processors in what is effectively a Vertical Processor Array has the potential to fulfill either of my two (2) predictions for an Optical Processor or an Iso-Linear Processor from Intel. This IBM-3M partnership draws upon 3M’s vast experience in designing special resins and adhesives.
Presumably heat dissipation would be the main reason why 3M was drafted in to help come up with a solution, as an adhesive would make the design of Iso-Linear or All-Optical Processors faster. The etching technology to build 3D Vertical Processor Array cost effectively evades even the best technical minds at Intel. But were this IBM-3M partnership to succeed by 2013AD, the implications for Processor architecture are staggering.
Iso-Linear Processors would not only be faster, but combined with Low Voltage Multi-Core Processors, it could not only potentially break the 3.6GHz Processor speed barrier without the need for special Liquid Helium Cooling technology as in the article “AMD chip sets Guinness World Record for processing speed”, published September 14 2011 by Rick Marshall, DigitalTrends but also develop the first fully functional ScOC (Supercomputer on a Chip).
This as the different Low Voltage Multi-Core Processors layers, most likely based on Intel’s Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge Technology in a 3D Vertical Processor Array, slathered together with 3M’s soon-to-be-developed adhesive, would basically be the equivalent of multiple Processors in a supercomputer many times its size, but at s.t.p (Standard Temperature and Pressure) which is 25 degrees Celsius and 1atm.
Such an Iso-Linear Processor would make a lot of applications such as real-time Language Translation, Digital Image Processing and AI (Artificial Intelligence) possible and affordable to the masses which were only achievable by supercomputers.
The physical shape of such 3D Vertical Processor Arrays made from Intel Ivy Bridge Processors glued together with IBM-3M jointly developed adhesive would also mean that the way in which Processor slots on motherboards are designed would have to undergo a radical re-development, as such a Processors may end up looking like the crystalline tube-shaped Processors seen in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
I hope that IBM and 3M “stick it out to the end”, Rihanna Umbrella style, as the potential result may revive the PC from the near dead, Lazarus Effect style.
This would then turn former Apple CEO Steve Jobs prediction of the demise of the PC as noted on my Geezam blog article entitled “Are we witnessing Laptop and PC Extinction?” and my blog article entitled “Tablets and the Future of the PC - Jurassic Park and License to Kill” on its head by introducing something never before seen; PC architecture that is super Computer fast and super efficient, possibly Optical in nature (I am still a dreamer!) and possibly very Power efficient at s.t.p.
Fulfilling my earlier predictions as stated in my blog article entitled “Intel and LightPeak - Race towards the Sun”!
Throw in the fact that we are in the “Post-PC Era” and the next incarnation of the PC may look a lot like the Raspberry Pi Mini USB PC as per my blog article entitled “Raspberry Pi US$25 computer coming in November 2011AD - Post PC Survival and PC Revolution for the Masses”, the idea of a pocket ScOC (Supercomputer on a Chip) may not seem such a far fetched concept after all.
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