Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has joined a server flash memory
specialist as chief scientist.
Wozniak was already on the advisory board of three-year-old firm
Fusion-io, but he has now taken a full-time role at the firm to
help develop server technology that is expected to take off at
large firms.
Wozniak said, "I have a pretty quiet life, and I like to watch
technology evolve. In this case, I like the people and the product,
and I said I would like some greater involvement."
Fusion-io packs flash chips together to form a module that
slides into certain server slots. This gives the main computing
processor quick access to data stored on the flash chips.
In traditional server systems, the microprocessor is connected
to the data on a storage system through more indirect links,
meaning a slower performance.
Companies running large databases are expected to eventually
turn to companies such Fusion-io which can bring the data closer to
computational chips.
Dell has invested in Fusion-io, and the firm has sales channel
arrangements with Dell, Hewlett-Packard and IBM.