High Performance & Distributed Computing

Hans Vandierendonck awarded EU Marie Curie Fellowship NovoSoft on software management techniques for new energy-efficient memory technologies

Main memory is consuming an increasing fraction of total system energy. In servers, memory may consume 40% of the budget, a figure that is still rising. New non-volatile memory (NVRAM) technologies, such as phase-change RAM and resistive RAM, have different energy properties, consuming less static energy but spending more energy per memory access than the current state-of-the-art dynamic RAM (DRAM) memory technology. The NovoSoft project aims to drastically reduce memory system energy consumption and investigates system software to manage hybrid memory systems containing both NVRAM and DRAM components to maximise the benefits of each technology. EU Marie Curie Fellowships are prestigious investigator awards for researchers moving to or around Europe with a success rate below 15%. Hans Vandierendonck was awarded the NovoSoft project upon joining the HPDC research cluster at Queen's University Belfast.