Multicore memory in the works?

Multicore processors have become a major part of the consumer mainstream in the past couple years, but if a cryptographic researcher named Joseph Ashwood has his way, the next few years will see the rise of multicore memory. Ashwood's design, which he's had positively reviewed by a team at Carnegie Mellon, allows memory to actually become faster as it gets bigger, due to the way data is organized across individual memory cells. Ashwood says the ratio is almost 1:1 -- doubling size should result in a doubling of speed -- but it's all theory for now, as he's only gotten as far as the software simulation stage. Once a manufacturer commits to the tech, however, Ashwood says chips could be coming off fabs in as little as three months, but it'll be interesting to see who signs up first -- with so many next-gen RAM techs all jostling for position, Ashwood is going to need quite a sales pitch to stand out.

[Photo courtesy of MrBill]

[Boywithhair @ Jan 16th 2008 7:09AM]

i remember reading something like this in "nanotech for dummies"

[Bipedal @ Jan 16th 2008 7:31AM]

Durrr but then all our ram will be too big to fit in our computers durrr.

[Aaron Wanker @ Jan 16th 2008 7:35AM]

Hey, Carnegie Mellon is less than an hour from where I live...

[qwho @ Jan 16th 2008 8:09AM]

I could walk there from where I am right now... OOooooo!

[johnnychipface @ Jan 16th 2008 8:09AM]

Well then you're famous. Give yourself a pat on the back :)

[EMoShunz @ Jan 16th 2008 9:05AM]

i'll just say it...awesome. memory needs this, the potential is amazing. make this non-destructive, and hello disk-less drives!

[Simon @ Jan 16th 2008 9:29AM]

Sign me up!

[Sporkinum @ Jan 16th 2008 9:57AM]

I worked with multicore memory 25 years ago. Punch cards too. ;)

[Eric M. @ Jan 16th 2008 9:57AM]

Hmm, can we wait for software developers to utilize multicore processors first? It seems that the hardware is now ahead of software developers and I really don't see software catching up because every day new more advandced hardware is released.

But I would still love to have more memory, Vista and iTunes together take up like 4Gigs on their own.

[p3ngwin @ Jan 16th 2008 11:31AM]

what on earth are you talking about?
programmers don't have anything to do with memory in ram apart from the actual address spaces. HOW the hardware aranges that space is irrelevant to a programmer.

it's like if you were putting data into houses. how the house is built and what performance it has is irrelevant to you, as the "address" stays the same.

so the programmer and the end user get the benefit of transparent tech. all good and we all win.

[Chebwa @ Jan 16th 2008 2:03PM]

I think you're 100% right. Even the lowliest, slimiest, cheapest budget Dell is overpowered for the casual user in many ways. I think software is the real key component for 2008.

[Phil @ Jan 16th 2008 10:44AM]

They should call it Ashram. Or maybe not.

[Ed @ Jan 16th 2008 5:07PM]

Doubling the size... Doubles the Speed.....

So Computers will now start to take up half our rooms again?

Cuz if that really works.. I will take my whole living room to fit that bad boy.