http://www.economist.com/printedition/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=2051736
Article describing efforts at the IBM Almaden Research Center to build computers using "collective intelligent bricks", currently enabled as 8" cubes with 80GB of disk data storage, a CPU, and metallic connectors which enable the bricks to be stacked together, communicating without wires at a high data rate.
The individual components of this technology may not impress, but a simple 3 x 3 x 3 array of such computer bricks could store 25TB [or one Library of Congress]. A multiple-brick system would be computing's version of The Immortal Chicken heart, although cooling problems represent a major issue to be addressed.
Posted by jho at September 18, 2003 10:42 AM