Breakfast Bytes Blogs

Cadence has a new book out. Written by Frank Schirrmeister and myself, it is called Hyperscale Computing Trends: 2022 Outlook. In some ways, it is similar to the Year of Breakfasts books that I have done each year for the last few years, a sort of best of Breakfast Bytes. But there are two big changes this year. Firstly, the book also contains some of the posts that Frank wrote for Semiconductor Engineering. And second, the book is focused on an individual topic, in this. case hyperscale datacenters. We plan to produce a couple more books during the year, one on Automotive, and one on 5G. Maybe more, if we get really enthusiastic.

As it says in the foreword to the book:

As we are in 2022, at the beginning of what can only some described as the “roaring twenties,” the transformation to a digital world is visible to us almost everywhere we look, across most industries. This book will shed some light on critical technology trends enabling our new “hyperscaled” lives and some key technology challenges.
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Will the electronics industry maintain this trajectory? This book intends to provide some answers by analyzing the key trends and industry transformations and charting a path toward solutions. We will discuss how to enable AI/ML chips and systems and, in turn, how to use AI/ML to increase the productivity of development tools and teams. You will learn about low-power, energy, and thermal challenges and solutions, how systems on chips (SoCs) will disaggregate into heterogeneous 2.5D and 3D-IC devices, ringing in what Patterson and Hennessy dubbed as “a new golden age for computer architecture.” We will also discuss the aspects of IoT and edge computing, from sensors to data centers, the advent of digital twins, and the effect of all the transformations on various industry verticals.

Getting a Copy

If you absolutely want one right now (and who wouldn't?), then it is available on Amazon for $10.

If you are attending CadenceLIVE Silicon Valley (June 8th and 9th, registration is open!) then we will be giving away copies for free. All being well, Frank and I will be signing them too.

We will also be giving them away at the Design Automation Conference at the Cadence booth. DAC is July 10th to 14th, although the exhibits are only open from the 11th to 13th. Registration is already open.

Contents

To give you a better idea of what is in the book, here is the table of contents;

• Foreword: The Era of Hyperconnectivity and Hyperscale Computing. 5
• Chapter 1: An Introduction to Hyperscale. 10
  • Getting to Hyperscale Data Centers: Mainframes to Minicomputers 10
  • Cadence Report: "Hyperscale Computing Will Positively Impact Me within Five Years"  22
• Chapter 2: Designing Chips for Hyperscale Data Centers 31
  • Designing Chips for Hyperscale Data Centers: IP and Tools. 31
  • Designing Planet-Scale Video Chips on Google Cloud. 39
• Chapter 3: Designing Data Centers, Thermal in Data Centers 45
  • System Design for Next-Generation Hyperscale Data Centers 45
  • How to Build a Data Center: It's All About the SerDes...and Thermal 50
  • Celsius: Thermal and Electrical Analysis Together at Last 54
  • Thermal Analysis of Protium X1. 64
• Chapter 4: Hyperscale and Edge Computing. 73
  • Hyperscale and Edge Computing: The What, Where, and How.. 73
  • Hyperconnectivity, Hyperscale Computing, And Moving Edges 78
  • Choosing the Right Model Fidelity for Your Digital Twin. 83
  • Cadence Cerebrus - Intelligent Chip Explorer 88
• Chapter 5: Hyperscaling the Future. 94
  • Microelectronics and the AI Revolution. 94
  • Smart Home Device Communication in the Era of Hyperconnectivity. 98
  • Hyperconnectivity and the Path to 6G.. 103
  • Hyperscaling and Cyber-Physical Systems 107
  • Hyperscaling the 21st Century Engineer 113
  • Industry Transformations In 2021 And Beyond  118

Looking Ahead

Frank wrote the last chapter in the book. Here is a key paragraph:

Hyperscale computing and AI are reshaping value chains, and I likened the transformation in this area to the change that the mobile industry went through a decade earlier. The data center itself has gone through considerable changes in the last decade. Many more changes are just on the horizon, as companies like Google outlined in their keynotes during the year.

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