With most systems and architecture conferences taking the online route, we figured it’s a great time to get to know a few people in the systems/architecture research community. People of Systems & Architecture is a series of interviews conducted this year, and continues in the same vein as the People of PL, People of POPL, … Read more
Traditional data management software and algorithms are built on the concept of persistent data sets that are reliably stored in stable storage and can be queried and updated several times throughout their lifetimes. In reality, however, data is rarely complete and stationary. In its latest report, the International Data Corporation predicts that in 5 years … Read more
The past five years have seen a significant change in the way cloud servers look. Traditionally homogeneous cloud systems are progressively shifting to heterogeneous designs, either through special purpose chips, like Google’s TPUs, or reconfigurable fabrics, like Microsoft’s Catapult and Brainwave projects; sometimes, they even adopt a combination of the two. This post provides an … Read more
We build computer systems around abstractions. The right abstractions are timeless and versatile, meaning they apply in many different settings. Such abstractions make developers’ lives easier, and allow system developers and researchers to optimize performance “below the hood”, by changing systems without breaking the abstractions. In this post, I will argue that the abstraction of … Read more