Chapter 5 - Moore's Law Flashcards
A thin, circular slice of material used to create semiconductor devices. Hundreds of chips may be etched on a single wafer, where they are eventually cut out for individual packaging.
Silicon wafer
Storage (such as RAM chips) that is wiped clean when power is cut off from a device
Volatile memory
Nonvolatile, chip-based storage, often used in mobile phones, cameras, and MP3 players. Sometimes called flash RAM, this is slower than conventional RAM, but holds its charge even when the power goes out.
Flash memory
A type of computing that uses special software to enable several computers to work together on a common problem as if they were a massively parallel supercomputer
Grid computing
Connecting server computers via software and networking so they their resources can be used to collectively solve computing tasks
Cluster computing
A form of cloud computing where a firm subscribes to a third-party software and receives a service that is delivered online
Software as a service (SaaS)
A vision where low-cost sensors, processors, and communication are embedded into a wide array of products and our environment, allowing a vast network to collect data, analyze input, and automatically coordinate collective action
Internet of Things
A term often used in computing that refers to delay, especially when discussing networking and data transfer speeds. Low-______ systems are faster systems
Latency
Semiconductor fabrication facilities; the multi billion dollar plants used to manufacture semiconductors
Fabs (semiconductor fabrication facilities)
A substance such as silicon dioxide used inside most computer chips that is capable of enabling as well as inhibiting the flow of electricity. From a managerial perspective, when someone refers to semiconductors, they are talking about computer chips, and the semiconductor industry is the chip business.
Semiconductor
The part of the computer that executes the instructions of a computer program
Microprocessor
The fast, chip-based volatile storage in a computing device
Random-access memory (RAM)
Chip performance per dollar doubles every eighteen months
Moore’s Law
Computers designed with many microprocessors that work together, simultaneously, to solve problems
Massively parallel
Microprocessors with two or more (typically lower power) calculating processor cores on the same piece of silicon
Multicore microprocessors
A high-speed glass or plastic-lined networking cable used in telecommunications
A high-speed glass or plastic-lined networking cable used in telecommunications.
Computers that are among the fastest of any in the world at the time of their introduction
Supercomputers
Storage that retains data even when powered down (such as flash memory, hard disk, or DVD storage)
Nonvolatile memory
The rate at which the demand for a product or service fluctuates with price change. Goods and services that are highly price elastic (e.g., most consumer electronics) see demand spike as prices drop, whereas goods and services that are less price elastic are less responsive to price changes (think heart surgery)
Price elasticity
Semiconductor-based devices. Solid state components often suffer fewer failures and require less energy than mechanical counterparts because they have no moving parts. RAM, flash memory, and microprocessors are examples. Hard drives are not.
Solid state electronics
A massive network of computer servers running software to coordinate their collective use. These provide the infrastructure backbone to SaaS and hardware cloud efforts, as well as many large-scale Internet services
Server farms
Replacing computing resources - either an organization’s or individual’s hardware or software - with services provided over the Internet.
Cloud computing
The chip-based equivalent of a hard drive
Flash memory
How often does data storage double
Every 12 months
How often does networking speed double
Every nine months
First wave - Moore’s Law
1960s
Computing was limited to large, room sized mainframe computers that only governments and big corporations could afford.
Second wave - Moore’s Law
1979s
Minicomputers (refrigerator sized computers that were as speedy or speedier than the prior generation of mainframes, yet were affordable for workgroups, factories, and smaller organizations
Wave three - moore’s Law
1980s
PCs, nearly every white collar working in American had a fast and cheap computer on their desk by the end of the decade
Wave four - moore’s Law
1990s
Internet computing; cheap servers and networks made it possible to scatter data around the world at the same time that fast, cheap PCs became mouse-click easy and PC ownership became common in the industrialized world.
Wave five - moore’s Law
Computing, mobile phones
Sixth wave - moore’s Law
Pervasive computing; technology is fast and so inexpensive that it is becoming ubiquitously woven into products
A point in the future where objects will collect and share data and automatically coordinate collective action for radical efficiency improvements.
Internet of things
What three interrelated forces are threatening to slow down Moore’s Law’s advance?
Size, heat, and power
The supertiny on-off switches in a chip that work collectively to calculate or store things in memory
Transistors
Transistors
The supertiny on-off switches in a chip that work collectively to calculate or store things in memory
