Engineering:Gen-Z
Year created | 2016 |
---|---|
Created by | Gen-Z Consortium |
Website | genzconsortium |
The Gen-Z consortium is a trade group of technology vendors involved in designing CPUs, random access memory, servers, storage, and accelerators. The goal was an open and royalty-free "memory-semantic" protocol, which is not limited by the memory controller of a CPU. The basic operations consist of simple loads and stores with the addition of modular extensions. It is intended to be used in a switched fabric or point-to-point where each device connects using a standard connector.[1]
The consortium was publicly announced on October 11, 2016[2] with broad industry participation. Some of the vendors also joined a group to promote the cache coherent interconnect for accelerators (CCIX) protocol on the same day.[3]
At about the same time, yet another consortium formed to work on an open specification for the Coherent Accelerator Processor Interface (CAPI).[4] The efforts followed years of delays before products were available with version 4.0 of PCI Express.[5]
On April 2, 2020, the Compute Express Link (CXL) and Gen-Z Consortiums have announced their execution of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), describing a mutual plan for collaboration between the two organisations .[6][7]
Membership
- Server vendor members
Server vendor members include Cisco Systems, Cray, Dell Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Huawei, IBM, and Lenovo.
- CPU vendor members
CPU vendor members include Advanced Micro Devices, ARM Holdings, Broadcom Limited, IBM, and Marvell.
- Memory and storage vendor members
Memory and storage vendor members include Micron Technology, Samsung, Seagate Technology, SK Hynix, and Western Digital.
- Other members
Other members include IDT Corporation, IntelliProp,[8] Mellanox Technologies, Microsemi, Red Hat, and Xilinx.[1]
- Conspicuous absence
Analysts noted the absence of Intel, which announced an inter-connect technology of its own called Omni-Path a year before, and Nvidia, with its own NVLink technology.[9]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Gen-Z Consortium". Group's web site. http://genzconsortium.org.
- ↑ Agam Shah (October 11, 2016). "Hardware makers unite to challenge Intel with Gen-Z spec". CIO from IDG. http://www.cio.com/article/3130273/hardware-makers-unite-to-challenge-intel-with-gen-z-spec.html.
- ↑ Jeff Defilippi (October 11, 2016). "How do AMBA, CCIX and GenZ address the needs of the data center?". ARM Community blog. https://community.arm.com/processors/b/blog/posts/how-do-amba-ccix-and-genz-address-the-needs-of-the-data-center.
- ↑ Chris Mellor (October 14, 2016). "Why OpenCAPI is a declaration of interconnect fabric war: Any standard but Intel in another CPU-memory interconnect consortium". The Register. https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/10/14/opencapi_declaration_of_interconect_war/.
- ↑ Evan Koblentz (February 3, 2017). "New PCI Express 4.0 delay may empower next-gen alternatives". Tech Republic. http://www.techrepublic.com/article/new-pci-express-4-0-delay-may-empower-next-gen-alternatives/.
- ↑ Compute Express Link(CXL) Consortium and Gen-Z Consortium (April 2, 2020). "CXL Consortium and Gen-Z Consortium Announce MOU Agreement". https://b373eaf2-67af-4a29-b28c-3aae9e644f30.filesusr.com/ugd/0c1418_efb1cff3f41d486ea85d50ec638ea715.pdf.
- ↑ Gen-Z Consortium (April 2, 2020). "CXL Consortium and Gen-Z Consortium Announce MOU Agreement". https://genzconsortium.org/cxl-consortium-and-gen-z-consortium-announce-mou-agreement/.
- ↑ "Gen-Z Technology". http://intelliprop.com/hardware-storage-design/technology/technology-gen-z.htm.
- ↑ Tallis, Billy (13 February 2018). "Gen-Z Core Specification 1.0 Published". Anandtech. https://www.anandtech.com/show/12431/genz-interconnect-core-specification-10-published. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
External links