Microsoft Prototype a Test Bed for New Hardware Architectures

By Doug Barney

Building a brand new computing architecture is a painstaking andcomplex process. Microsoft (Redmond, WA; microsoft.com) is looking to speed upthe routine with a new system built with the help of Celestica, Inc. (Toronto,ONT) an $8 billion Toronto-based design and manufacturing concern.

Thedevice is shockingly simple. It looks like any old computer chassis and isstuffed with all the things we’d expect in a modern machine. It has gobs of RAM,64 gigs in fact, a bevy of high-speed network and computer interfaces,programmable logic, and a big batch of field programmable gate arrays. Insteadof building a chip to try out a crazy idea, just program the gatearrays.

This concept is not entirely new. The University of CaliforniaBerkeley has been doing similar work for years. In fact, BEE3 stands forBerkeley Emulation Engine 3. 

Celestica ain’t exactly a bunch of sloucheseither. Robert Crandall, former head of American Airlines, is the companychairman.

http://research.microsoft.com/news/featurestories/publish/BEE3.aspx?0hp=n2