OpenCAPI

OpenCAPI (Open Coherent Accelerator Processor Interface) - an interface designed to connect to computer systems of their key components, such as storage devices, memory modules, graphics chips and central processors.

2016: Consortium Creation

In mid-October 2016, it became known about the creation of a consortium promoting the OpenCAPI standard. The alliance includes major IT companies including IBM, Google, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Dell, AMD, Micron Technology, Nvidia, Mellanox Technologies and Xilinx.

Partners intend to approve OpenCAPI specifications by the end of 2016. Servers and platforms with support for the OpenCAPI interface are expected on the market in the second half of 2017.

IT giants create fast data center interface

Proponents of OpenCAPI expect to increase the performance of data centers in solving problems related to big data processing, analytics and machine learning through the new technology. In particular, the 10-fold superiority of the interface in data transfer speed is stated compared to the solutions presented in the commercial market by October 2016.

According to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), although processors are getting faster, their work is often interrupted by the need to extract data from memory chips, graphics chips and other components used to process special tasks. OpenCAPI just designed to eliminate this weakness in computer systems.

Supercomputers and powerful servers will be the first OpenCAPI. It may take several years to implement the technology in consumer computers.

The WSJ notes that Intel does not participate in the promotion of the new interface, which has alternative solutions (for example, QuickPath Interconnect), which the company calls "the best combination of efficiency, performance and total cost of ownership."^[1]

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