Intel is working to replace the traditional server rack with a more efficient architecture that separates CPU, storage, power, and networking resources into individual components that can be swapped out as needed.
Power and cooling would be shared across CPUs, rather than having separate power supplies for each server. Server, memory, network, and storage resources would all be disaggregated and shared across the rack. Incredibly fast interconnects will be needed to prevent slowdowns because disaggregating components pushes them further apart, and Intel is thus building an interconnect that’s capable of 100Gbps.
“We are developing a rack-scale architecture,” Lisa Graff, VP and general manager of Intel’s data center marketing group, said in a briefing with reporters last week. “We’re working with end users, OEMs, and ISVs to drive common standards in a reference architecture.”
The first version of this reference architecture is expected to be published sometime in 2014. Graff said the idea is to let data center managers “mix and match components instead of forklifting a rack” when pieces need to be replaced. Sharing things like memory and storage across CPUs will allow higher utilization of computing resources, and a design that eliminates unnecessary parts will let data centers cram more computing power into each rack.

The effort is complementary to Facebook’s Open Compute Project. Facebook is already designing its own servers, stripping out extraneous bits of hardware, and it has worked with Intel on possible designs for racks that disaggregate and share resources.
The networking technology used by typical data centers isn’t quite fast enough to power disaggregated racks just yet. That’s why Intel is developing silicon photonics technology that uses light to move data at up to 100Gbps. Silicon photonics has the added benefit of reducing the amount of cabling needed in a rack.
“Silicon photonics made with inexpensive silicon rather than expensive and exotic optical materials provides a distinct cost advantage over older optical technologies in addition to providing greater speed, reliability, and scalability benefits,” Intel said in January, when it announced that it has produced engineering samples of the technology. “Businesses with server farms or massive data centers could eliminate performance bottlenecks and ensure long-term upgradability while saving significant operational costs in space and energy.”
Intel isn’t the only company trying to speed up networking with silicon photonics. As we reported in December, IBM has “developed a technology that integrates optical communications and electronics in silicon, allowing optical interconnects to be integrated directly with integrated circuits in a chip.” IBM said its silicon nanophotonics technology is ready for mass production, although specific implementations haven’t been announced.
Corporate data centers won’t be receiving an immediate overhaul, but Intel’s vision (and IBM’s) is one that may be appealing to companies with thousands or tens of thousands of servers.
Intel describes its goals as follows:
Physical Aggregation. All non-critical sheet metal removed and key components such as power supplies and fans taken out of individual servers and consolidated at the rack level. Savings are expected due to higher levels of efficiency and lower costs by reducing the number of fans and power supplies.
Fabric Integration and Storage Virtualization. Disaggregate and separate out the storage from compute systems with direct attached storage, and achieve higher utilization through storage virtualization. The compute and network fabric is the key technology that is enabling disaggregation of storage without impact to performance. Intel Silicon Photonics interconnects will enable higher speed connections between various computing resources within the rack, thus enabling the eventual disaggregation of server, memory, network and storage within the rack.
Future. Ultimately, the industry will move to subsystem disaggregation where processing, memory and I/O will be completely separated into modular subsystems, making it possible to easily upgrade these subsystems rather than doing a complete system upgrade.
Early versions of the rack-scale architecture are planned for deployment by several companies in China, namely Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent, and China Telecom.
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