Composable Memory Appliance Hardware

Composable Memory Appliance (CMA) Hardware is a sub-project within the Composable Memory System (CMS) Sub-Project of the OCP Server Project.

The Composable Memory System (CMS) Sub-Project sits under the OCP Server Project. It was created when the OCP Future Technologies Initiative’s Software Defined Memory workstream transitioned into a new OCP Sub-Project, now called Composable Memory Systems.

The team leverages the initial CMA CLA contribution as a launching pad for exploratory studies to learn, explore, and standardize the next-generation OCP architectural enhancements needed to reduce cost, improve latency and bandwidth performance, and increase the number of clustered nodes that can connect into a pooled memory appliance.

Its charter is to provide a TCO-optimized solution to the memory-wall and stranded-resource challenge. The team is aiming toward CXL pooled memory with non-blocking bandwidth performance and a full command-to-data round-trip latency under 400 ns, to positively impact roughly 80% or more of cloud-based applications. The goal is openness, efficiency, and optimized TCO for scaling pooled memory capacity and bandwidth while maintaining about 2x NUMA latency, improving sustainability through DDR4 recycling and reduced power per GB of memory capacity.

The initial CLA-based CMA contribution covers:

• The CMA hardware charter, which impacts server-level hardware
• The appliance mechanical packaging and architectural specification, including blade form factor, upstream and power connector types, and pinouts
• The PSU card pinout and mechanical form factor
• The RunBMC firmware and specification
• The fan module design, connector, and pinout
• The enclosure midplane PCBA mechanical form factor and high-level architectural design
• All midplane connector types and pinouts