SDM Survey Questions

Introduction

OCP recently launched a Future Technology Initiative to explore future memory hierarchies for servers defined as “Software Defined Memory”.

Software-Defined Memory (SDM) is an emerging architecture paradigm that provides software abstraction between applications and underlying memory resources with dynamic memory provisioning to achieve the desired SLA. This enables memory (performance and/or capacity) expansion for applications that rely heavily on memory. With the emergence of newer memory technologies and faster interconnects, it is possible to optimize memory resources deployed in cloud infrastructure while achieving the best possible TCO (total cost of ownership).

This survey is intended to collect industry requirements and trends for memory needs in your infrastructure. We will be happy to share the results of this survey in a detailed white paper about SDM.

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* 1. Which of the following applications are an important part of your infrastructure and are currently memory bound? (Select all that apply)

Database, Caching (e.g., memcache, Redis etc)

AI/ML Infrastructure

Virtualized servers for general purpose computing (e.g., VMs, containers etc.)

High Performance computing

Other (please specify)

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* 2. How important do you consider increasing memory bandwidth needs per server as a key aspect for your future infrastructure growth?

Extremely important

Somewhat important

Not at all important

Don't know

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* 3. How important do you consider increasing memory Capacity needs per server as a key aspect for your future infrastructure growth?

Extremely important

Somewhat important

Not at all important

Don't know

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* 4. What percentage of your server infrastructure TCO is driven by memory cost and power?

<25%

26-50%

>50%

Don't know

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* 5. Which of the following are the most important server memory design/selection criteria for your memory-bound applications (select in priority order)?

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* 6. Any other server memory design/selection criteria for your memory-bound applications?

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* 7. When do you think there is a risk of memory capacity and/or bandwidth becoming a bottleneck for your memory-bound applications?

Now

1 to 3 years

4 to 5 years

More than 5 years

No risk seen

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* 8. For your servers with heterogeneous memory (HM), which of the below solutions are most suitable for your application needs?

Application managed

OS/Kernel Managed

Hardware Managed

No preference

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* 9. How important do you consider pooling and sharing of memory capacity across multiple servers as a key aspect for your future infrastructure growth?

Extremely important

Somewhat important

Not at all important

No preference

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* 10. Which of the following interconnect technologies do you intend to evaluate in your infrastructure in the next 2-3 years? (Select all that apply)

Memory on CXL server interconnect

Memory on CXL switch-based fabric

Memory on a multi-host fabric such as Gen-Z

Other (please specify)

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* 11. When do you think persistent memory becomes an important requirement for your infrastructure?

Important now

1- 3 years

4-5 years

More than 5 years