What is Advanced System Architecture?

We’ve talked about the digital mesh, the Internet of Everything and the rise of smart machines – the constant avalanches of information that are flying back and forth around us, as the technologies that are learning to capture, handle, process and analyze that information in ever more sophisticated ways.

We’ve discussed the trend of machine learning, that sees devices and software not just analyzing information but using this to identify overarching patterns, make predictions – and learn.

The technology available to us is approaching the point where it can mimic the workings of the human brain. But compared to these developments, the IT architecture in place at most organizations is positively Stone Age. If they’re going to keep up with the rate of innovation and opportunity without seeing their systems go into meltdown, these organizations need to adopt the kind of high-powered, ultra-efficient neuromorphic architectures that can cope with these intense demands.

What Does this Mean in Practice?

Neuormorphic architectures? Sounds pretty futuristic, right? And of course, it is. What we’re talking about is a system that can constantly adapt, change, learn and grow with the speed and ease of human thought – or at least, one that’s heading in that direction.

In order to provide these neuromorphic architectures, advanced system architecture is fueled by field-programmable gate arrays, or FPGAs. This allows systems to run at incredible speed – more than a teraflop – and with breathtaking energy efficiency.

What Gartner Says:

Systems built on GPUs and FPGAs will function more like human brains that are particularly suited to be applied to deep learning and other pattern-matching algorithms that smart machines use. FPGA-based architecture will allow further distribution of algorithms into smaller form factors, with considerably less electrical power in the device mesh, thus allowing advanced machine learning capabilities to be proliferated into the tiniest IoT endpoints, such as homes, cars, wristwatches and even human beings.”

What We Say:

Look at it this way: the trends on the first half of this list are all concerned with increasing the number of potential thoughts, finding new ways to generating sophisticated thoughts, or creating more neurons for ideas to bounce between.

But advanced system architecture is about building the solid gray matter of the corporate, organization, or device brain for these thoughts to actually function, interconnect and build into rational ideas and predictions. The success of innovators in this field will ultimately control the speed at which other IT innovations can be adopted proactively within organizations with the ambition to exploit them.

This is the seventh in a 10-part series on top trends for 2016. In our next post, we’ll be talking about another hot new trend: Mesh App and Service Architecture. See you there!