Locality-based computing

Summary form only given. The shift to multi-core processors is having a dramatic effect on the way we design systems and the software that runs on them. It is true that the vast majority of software is not multi-threaded and thus does not take full advantage of the new platform. It is also true that there is a gap in software development skills, techniques, and tools to exploit the multicore platform. So whatpsilas there to talk about? The short-term focus is on using virtualization to get the most out of the platform. Up to now this has meant workload consolidation, especially for development and QA. Some but not all workloads have been candidates. 2009 appears to the year this changes. Technologies like Nehalem/QuickPath, Montreal/HT3, PCI Express gen2 (x8/x16), SR-IOV/Multi-Queue NICs, and SSD/Flash will show-up in the scale-out server market next year. This talk will focus on how these will be combined and the impact the resultant platform will have on computational finance.