IBM has said it is working on a new technique its believes could minimise the size and components of computers in the future.
The multinational computer, technology and IT consulting company made the announcement at IBM’s Zurich Labs that they are using new techniques of processor arrangement with the goal of working towards mini computers, according to bbc.co.uk.
The approach, which Dr Bruno Michel believes could see computer sizes reduced to those of sugar cubes, could result in stacking computer processors on top of one another and cooling them with a flow of water beneath each one.
Michel said their current Aquasar prototype, which can run at 1.1bn operation per second, could be the size of a sugar cube in 10-15 years.
“We currently have built this Aquasar system that’s one rack full of processors. We plan that 10 to 15 years from now, we can collapse such a system in to one sugar cube – we’re going to have a supercomputer in a sugar cube.”
IBM has also announced the acquisition of analytics company Netezza Corporation.
