Cloud Computing: IBM’s SyNAPSE chip moves even closer to brain-like computing
August 7, 2014
Grazed from GigaOm. Author: Signe Brewster.
IBM’s pursuit of a chip far more powerful, small and light than the existing options takes its inspiration from a familiar source: the human brain. The company revealed the second generation of its SyNAPSE chip today that lead researcher Dharmendra Modha described as “a supercomputer the size of a stamp, the weight of a feather.” And it consumes the same amount of power as a hearing aid.
“I’m holding in my hand a new machine for a new era,” Modha said in an interview. “When we started the SyNAPSE project many people thought it was impossible. As we look to the future, possible can become real. This could open up a whole new frontier of scientific exploration and commercial exploitation.”…
The chip, which appeared on the cover of the journal Science today, contains 1 million programmable neutrons and 256 million programmable synapses, and is capable of 46 billion synaptic operations per second per watt. Neutrons represent computation while synapses take the place of integrated memory…
Read more from the source @ http://gigaom.com/2014/08/07/ibms-synapse-chip-moves-even-closer-to-brain-like-computing/