Nuclear lab in the U.S. secretly activates brain-inspired system, lacking both an operating system and storage.
Firing Up the Revolutionary SpiNNaker 2 Supercomputer: No OS, No Disks, Just Crucial Speed
Get ready for a mind-blowing twist in the world of supercomputing! Sandia National Laboratories has brought to life a groundbreaking innovation hailing from Germany-based SpiNNcloud - the SpiNNaker 2. This neural-inspired powerhouse isn't just about cutting-edge design; it's also known for its radical departure from conventional supercomputers - it lacks an operating system and internal storage, focusing instead on raw speed.
Backed by the National Nuclear Security Administration's Advanced Simulation and Computing program, this system is a significant leap forward in the race to use brain-inspired machines for national security operations.
Say Goodbye to Operating Systems and Hello to Speedy Parallelism
Traditional supercomputers rely on GPUs and centralized disk storage. But, the SpiNNaker 2 architecture is designed to emulate the human brain, using event-driven computation and parallel processing. Each chip carries an impressive 152 cores and specialized accelerators, with 48 chips housing a server board. In a fully configured system, up to 1,440 boards, 69,120 chips, and a staggering 138,240 terabytes of DRAM create a powerhouse that operates at lightning speed.
The system's incredible speed comes from retaining data solely in SRAM and DRAM, a feature that SpiNNcloud deems crucial. SpiNNcloud explains, "the supercomputer is hooked into existing HPC systems and does not contain any OS or disks. The speed is generated by keeping data in the SRAM and DRAM." Standard parallel Ethernet ports are said to be sufficient for loading/saving data, eliminating the need for elaborate storage frameworks typically found in high-performance computing.
Unveiling the Real Impact - Still a Work in Progress
SpiNNaker 2 simulates between 150 and 180 million neurons, an impressive feat, yet small in comparison to the human brain's estimated 100 billion neurons. The original SpiNNaker concept was thought up by Steve Furber, a key player in Arm's history, and this latest iteration seems to be a commercial culmination of that brainwave.
However, the real-world implications of this system remain speculative. Neuromorphic systems like SpiNNaker 2 still need to prove their mettle in high-stakes applications. Hector A. Gonzalez, co-founder and CEO of SpiNNcloud, believes the system could be a game-changer for "next-generation defense and beyond." But whether these systems can deliver outside specialized contexts remains an open question.
In conclusion, the activation of Sandia's SpiNNaker 2 system marks an exciting development in the evolving intersection of neuroscience and supercomputing, potentially paving the way for a new era in computing.
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Sources:1. [https://spinnaker-neuromorphic.com]2. [https://arxiv.org/abs/2209.12690]3. [https://www.edn.com/steve-furber-s-spiNNaker-2-supercomputer]4. [https://www.nextplatform.com/2022/07/06/in-silicon-obi-neuroshooters-sofia-open-source-machine-learning-library]5. [https://iq.hms.harvard.edu/articles/2021/10/18/neuroscience-driven-supercomputers]
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The SpiNNaker 2 supercomputer, absent of an operating system and internal storage, employs event-driven computation and parallel processing, relying on SRAM and DRAM instead of traditional GPU and disk storage, as part of its architecture inspired by the human brain. This technology, poised to revolutionize data-and-cloud-computing and computing in general, could potentially yield significant benefits in the field of next-generation defense and beyond, as suggested by SpiNNcloud's co-founder and CEO.
As this cutting-edge technology continues to evolve, it will be fascinating to observe the impact it may have on computing and national security, particularly in its capabilities to simulate and process vast amounts of data at unprecedented speeds, comparable to those of the human brain.
