Intel is set to unveil its third-generation Optane devices shortly and is also working on a new version of the series. During a Storage Field Day presentation on Friday, Intel VP Kristie Mann mentioned this.
Optane is the implementation of their 3D XPoint technology, which was developed in collaboration with Micron at first. Micron departed the 3D XPoint chip and drive manufacturing business last year, and sold its XPoint foundry in Lehi, Utah, which supplied Intel with components. In 2020, the first-generation XPoint will be replaced with the second-generation XPoint, code-named Alder Stream for SSDs and Barlow Pass for persistent memory.
Intel Optane Will Do CXL Memory Tiering
On Friday, Mann’s team discussed two new Optane use-cases but provided no details on real gen 2 and 3 Optane devices or timelines.
They are working closely with VMware to get vSphere and related applications built to use Optane persistent memory, according to the audience. Intel is collaborating with other hypervisor producers, according to Project Capitola. Tier zero memory is DRAM, while tier one memory is Optane permanent memory.
Hypervisors should be adjusted to recognize and exploit the differences between DRAM and XPoint memory, but application-level code should remain unchanged. We can only assume that Microsoft’s Hyper-V, Nutanix’s AOS, and Red Hat’s KVM are all working with Intel to offer Optane permanent memory.
The first new use-case is an Intel-developed scenario that involves searching data fed via Kafka and Splunk and stored on a VAST Data system with 650TB of Optane SSD and QLC NAND SSD storage.
Large-scale similarity searches were the second use case, which is utilized by companies like Baidu, eBay, Amazon, and YouTube to give recommendations to users. This approach entails scanning datasets with billions to trillions of items, with data saved as feature vectors and graphs independently.
