ITRI, IBM Team Up to Develop Advanced IT Technologies

Taipei, Sept. 25, 2008 (CENS)--The government-backed Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) has recently partnered with International Business Machines (IBM) Corp. to develop next-generation multi-core computing platform and next-generation memory technology.

ITRI Executive Vice President C.K. Lee noted that the project is part of the institute's efforts to help upgrade Taiwan's industrial value through international cooperation. He said the cooperation offers a good chance for Taiwan's high-tech industry to evolve into an integrator of hardware and software from a pure hardware manufacturer.

For the next-generation computing platform program, the institute has opened an incubator center to develop the platform based on IBM's Cell/B.E. multi-core computing engine. Major task of the center is to develop software for the platform and cultivate talents to support the technology.

The two organizations' next-generation memory technology program will focus on IBM's "Racetrack" technology. T.C. Chen, vice president of science and technology at Thomas J. Watson Research Center, IBM Research Division, pointed out that the memory technology boasts lower costs and better reliability than existing memory technologies.

He estimated "Racetrack" memory would soon replace flash memory, whose market revenue is around US$30 billion worldwide a year, and hard disk, whose market revenue tops US$25 billion a year. IBM codenames the memory "Racetrack" because the data "race" around a nanowire track. The technology could enable a MP3 player to store about 500,000 songs or 3,500 movies--100 times more than is currently possible -- with lightning-fast boot times, far lower cost and unprecedented stability and durability.

According to the two organizations' roadmap, they will launch the memory's prototype for commercial purposes in three years based on the basic devices that IBM has introduced. To make the development smooth, ITRI will send three specialists to IBM to receive training for three years.

Chen noted that IBM spends billions of U.S. dollars every year on innovative technology programs, which he said will turn out to be commercial applications through collaborations with strategic partners.