In this way, the Unconventional Computer Architecture and Networks team at BSC-CNS, led by Mario Nemirovsky, will focus its research on system integration, defining basic hardware blocks and their flexible combination for node customization. These blocks are:
• the "compute" block (based on SoC)
• the high-performance computing (HPC) memory block
• the FPGA/SoC accelerator block

Resource allocation is fully defined by the software.
Ultimately, the aim is to achieve a low-power data center architecture, with an estimated 20% reduction in electricity consumption, by shifting from a paradigm that views the motherboard as the base unit to a model that views the block as the base unit, defined by the software. This enables the arbitrary sizing of disaggregated IT resources, deploying them wherever and whenever needed to meet user requirements in the cloud.
This research is part of the dRedBox project, funded with €6.4 million from the EU's Horizon 2020 program, of which the BSC-CNS is a member, specifically within the Requirements and Architecture Specification, Simulations and Interfaces working group.
The project, which lasts three years until the end of 2018, plans to obtain prototypes and testing data for various combinations of resources (CPUs, memory, peripherals) and will develop a new type of cloud computing server that leads to faster processing, better resource allocation and a decrease in overall costs.

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