Micron Technology : Accelerating Intelligence with Evolving Data Center Architecture

Today's hot topic is data centers. Again. Doesn't it sometimes feel like déjà vu? Because IT professionals know, it's a blessing when the attention - and the funding - are yours to bask in. And it's a curse when roadblocks keep you from delivering your best. Just a year ago, Forbes announced that, in their survey on the data center of the future, only 29% of leaders and engineers said their data centers met their current needs. Which left a massive 71% struggling to catch up. And demands for data center resources are only mounting.

The explosive growth of data, from 18 zettabytes in 2018 to 59 zettabytes just two years later, confirmed that accelerating how we capture, store and analyze the world's data needs serious innovation. Then came another major disruption: the unprecedented scale of people working and being educated from home in 2020, along with the virtualizing of almost all films, concerts, and other entertainment so it could all be streamed directly to homes.

As we hopefully transition into a new normal after the pandemic, technology demand will still accelerate, and traditional data center computing architecture will continue to lack the performance scale to keep pace. The rise of data-centric workloads, including pervasive artificial intelligence (AI), advanced analytics, and high-performance computing (HPC) applications such as precision medicine, are driving fundamental changes in how compute platforms are built.

Insight is the goal

Turning this exponentially growing data into insight, action and value is the end game. The data economy is driven on insight, and now that pursuit is evolving the data center platform. Yes, there is the potential for AI algorithms to reshape what's possible with computing itself. But this vision is not possible without significant memory and storage innovation where data, not compute, is at the center of the system.

However, system memory bandwidth is not keeping pace with CPU core growth, especially in heterogeneous compute environments where accelerators including GPUs, FPGAs, and ASICs are coupled with CPUs to tackle data-centric workloads. Traditional data center systems can't feed the beast anymore, not at the speeds required. But Micron believes, by deploying heterogeneous compute, innovating across the memory and storage hierarchy, and adopting a new high bandwidth, low latency industry standard interconnect called Compute Express Link (CXL), it is possible to realize a fully composable, scalable vision of the data center.

In with the new

You might be surprised at Micron today. Especially if you thought of us as a somewhat-quiet risk-averse supplier. Today, we're boldly engaging with ecosystems towards collaborative, customer-focused innovation. And, as the world's reliance on data-driven insights continues to increase, Micron's memory and storage expertise and role in the industry are becoming increasingly essential. Our innovation is fueling the demands of today's data centers through the acceleration of our DRAM and NAND development cycles coupled with the introduction of new technologies, delivering new capabilities to data-centric platforms.

Micron has simultaneous core technology leadership across DRAM and NAND for the first time in its history, a product portfolio that addresses the complete memory and storage hierarchy, and the right ecosystem partners to deliver innovation to customers. We've taken steps to shift our strategy and invest in solutions enabled by the CXL interconnect technology. We see tremendous promise in this emerging technology arena to deliver higher value to our customers while opening paths to expand differentiation of solution delivery. Plus, we continuously sharpen our manufacturing and operational capability to ensure we deliver to today's markets while enabling future technology innovation.

Conquering the new normal of the data center? Agile IT infrastructure, multi-cloud solutions and pervasive connectivity to enhance new edge-to-cloud use cases? Yes please. We can help you focus on the technology foundation that will help you drive real value from your data.

Join us 21 April

You can learn more at the Tech Field Day #23 virtual event. Mark your calendars for 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 PDT on 21 April, and come back to this page to hear Micron technology experts discuss our vision for memory and storage innovation and what it means for your workloads.

Data: A Blessing and a Curse - Accelerating the transformation of information into intelligence

Raj Hazra

Senior VP, General Manager, Compute and Networking Business Unit

Ryan Baxter

Senior Director, Cloud, Computing and Networking Business Unit

Malcolm Humphrey

VP, General Manager, Core Compute and Networking Business Unit

Roger Peene

VP of Marketing for the Storage Business Unit

Naga Chandrasekaran PhD

Senior VP, Technology Development

1. Data: A Blessing and a Curse
   Raj Hazra kicks off the two hours with a discussion of how we got here. See why Micron is uniquely positioned for this moment and your challenges.
2. Data-Centric Workloads in the Future Data Center
   Ryan Baxter shows how to get ready with heterogeneous compute, memory and storage innovation, and new, powerful interconnect standards for the data center you need.
3. Roadmap for the Memory and Storage Hierarchy
   And as modern applications redefine fast storage, Malcolm Humphrey and Roger Peene discuss NAND and DRAM innovation, and how Micron helps you create the most powerful servers possible.
4. Technology Leadership and Manufacturing Excellence
   Driving novel architectural advancements in the data center: Dr. Naga Chandrasekaran covers how Micron's integration of technology and product enables greater R&D efficiency and creates customer value.

For More Info

Visit online: Micron data center storage and Micron data center memory. And remember to join us 21 April at 1:30 p.m. PDT to watch 'Data: A Blessing and a Curse - Accelerating the transformation of information into intelligence'.

Allyson Klein

Vice President, Global Communications and Marketing
Micron Technology, Inc.

Allyson Klein is the vice president of global communications and marketing at Micron Technology. She leads Micron's global corporate marketing, brand and corporate communications team with a focus on telling Micron's story through external, internal and brand communication strategies and marketing activities that drive the company's vision and objectives forward.

Prior to joining Micron, Ms. Klein led the marketing strategy for Intel's data platform business and marketing for the company's growth initiatives, including 5G, AI, cloud and edge. Ms. Klein holds a master's degree from Portland State University and a bachelor's degree in marketing and management from the University of Oregon.