206
13 October 2016 - 16h15
Storage Class Memory (aka NVRAM): Challenges and Opportunities
by Ismail Oukid from SAP
Abstract: Storage Class Memory (SCM), also known as byte-addressable
non-volatile memory, or NVRAM, is a new class of memory technologies
that have the potential to revolutionize the architecture of
persistent software. Indeed, SCM combines the low latency and high
bandwidth of DRAM with the density, non-volatility, and economic
characteristic of traditional storage media (SSDs, HDDs). While SCM
can be used as DRAM extension or as fast storage, both use cases do
not leverage the full potential of SCM. A third option is to use SCM
as universal memory, that is, as main memory and storage at the same
time, which has the potential to enable a new class of persistent
software. However, using SCM as universal memory brings many
challenges such as data discovery, data durability, persistent memory
allocation, persistent data structures, and testing. In this talk we
will first introduce SCM and how it is projected to be architected in
incoming systems. Then, we will walk through the different challenges
and show how they can be overcome.
Short Bio: Ismail Oukid is a fourth year PhD student from TU Dresden,
working full time at SAP in close collaboration with Intel. His main
focus is on conducting path-finding work on how to leverage Storage
Class Memory as main memory and storage at the same time. He received
a Master's degree from Grenoble-INP Ensimag in 2013.
