[Eug-lug] Concurrency, (free lunch is over article)

[Mike Cherba]

Thanks for the pointer to the UoO Comp Sci stuff.  I'll have to get on
the list.  Anytime I can learn something new it's a happy thing.
		-Mike

On Fri, 2005-01-07 at 16:21, Bob Miller wrote:
> Mike Cherba wrote:
> 
> > Both/either.  For example; One way we use multiple cores in our Network
> > security processor designs is to dedicate cores to providing a specific
> > stage of the network stack.  This allows much less cache thrashing and
> > more efficient usage than if all the cores were in an SMP session and
> > being used as available for whichever network processing needed to be
> > done.  We can repurpose cores as needed to balance capacity with demand.
> > The effectiveness of this and various other approaches does admittedly
> > rely heavily on the underlying hardware architecture.  Does each core
> > have its own cache?  how are bus accesses prioritiezed in hardware?  is
> > this a Load/Store architecture or and EIP implimentation?  Do any of the
> > cores have independant RAM?  I guess the real questin is going to be how
> > to best use whatever design Intel/AMD decide to sell us.
> 
> Okay, now I understand.  I had thought you were arguing for
> task-specific CPUs.  The interesting question is, how do the CPUs
> interface with memory.  Presumably on-chip caches get bigger, and the
> off-chip memory buses get faster, but can they be scaled as well as
> the CPUs on chip?
> 
> > I'd love to meet some of these people. ( well
> > actually I'd like to meet lots of people as I'm still new here and need
> > to get out more now that I'm working from home )
> 
> Welcome to telecommuting.  I've been here 3.5 years, working with
> engineers in Silicon Valley, and making and keeping local tech
> contacts is hard.
> 
> You might enjoy the CS colloquia at the UofO.  They're irregularly
> scheduled technical talks about all kinds of topics.  Send mail
> to Cheri Smith <cheri at cs.uoregon.edu> and ask to be put on the
> colloquia mailing list.
-- 
Mike Cherba
Cavium Networks
883 Brookside Dr
Eugene, OR 97405
phone: (541) 684-3820
mike.cherba at caviumnetworks.com
www.caviumnetworks.com