System and method for high speed and efficient virtual desktop insfrastructure using photonics

• US 9,479,265 B2
• Filed: 02/16/2015
• Issued: 10/25/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/16/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AmZetta Technologies, LLC (American Megatrends International, LLC)
• Original Assignee: American Megatrends Incorporated
• Inventors: Maity, Sanjoy, Ayanam, Varadachari Sudan, Inbaraj, Joseprabu, Christopher, Samvinesh
• Primary Examiner(s): Torres, Juan A
• Application Number:
  US14/623,303
• Publication Number:
  US 20160241345A1
• Time in Patent Office: 617 Days
• Field of Search: 398/140
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4282 on a serial bus, e.g. I2C bus, SPI bus on daisy chain buses G06F13/4247
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45579 I/O management, e.g. providing access to device drivers or storage
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0619 in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0655 Vertical data movement, i.e. input-output transfer; data movement between one or more hosts and one or more storage devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0665 at area level, e.g. provisioning of virtual or logical volumes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0685 Hybrid storage combining heterogeneous device types, e.g. hierarchical storage, hybrid arrays
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/80 Optical aspects relating to the use of optical transmission for specific applications, not provided for in groups H04B10/03 - H04B10/70, e.g. optical power feeding or optical transmission through water
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/801 using optical interconnects, e.g. light coupled isolators, circuit board interconnections

Abstract

A system includes a virtual desktop server having a first processor and a photonics module. The photonics module includes a photonics interface connected to the first processor and connected to a photonics device via an optical channel, and a photonics controller having a second processor and a memory storing computer executable code. The code, when executed at the second processor, is configured to: control the photonics interface to receive first electronic signals from the first processor; convert the received first electronic signals to first optical signals; control the photonics interface to transmit the first optical signals to the photonics device via the optical channel; control the photonics interface to receive second optical signals from the photonics device via the optical channel; convert the received second optical signals to second electronic signals; and control the photonics interface to transmit the second electronic signals to the first processor.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a virtual desktop server, comprising;

a first processor; and

a photonics module, comprising;

a photonics interface, configured to be electronically connected to the first processor, and to be connected to at least one photonics device via an optical channel; and

a photonics controller comprising a second processor and a non-volatile memory storing first computer executable code,

wherein the first computer executable code, when executed at the second processor, is configured to;

control the photonics interface to receive first electronic signals from the first processor;

convert the received first electronic signals to first optical signals;

control the photonics interface to transmit the first optical signals to the at least one photonics device via the optical channel;

control the photonics interface to receive second optical signals from the at least one photonics device via the optical channel;

convert the received second optical signals to second electronic signals; and

control the photonics interface to transmit the second electronic signals to the first processor.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first computer executable code comprises:

a processing module configured to convert the received first electronic signals to the first optical signals and convert the received second optical signals to the second electronic signals; and

a transceiver module configured to control the photonics interface to receive the first electronic signals from the first processor, to receive the second optical signals from the at least one photonics device via the optical channel, to transmit the first optical signals to the at least one photonics device via the optical channel, and to transmit the second electronic signals to the first processor.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the photonics module is a chip having the photonics interface and the photonics controller integrated therein.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the photonics interface is electronically connected to the first processor through a peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) bus.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the optical channel comprises at least one photonics channel, and the photonics interface is electronically connected to the at least one photonics channel through a photonics bus.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the photonics interface comprises:

a first input/output (I/O) port electronically connected with the first processor;

a second I/O port connected with the at least one photonics device;

a first transceiver connected with the first I/O port, configured to receive the first electronic signals from and transmit the second electronic signals to the first processor via the first I/O port;

a second transceiver connected with the second I/O port, configured to receive the second optical signals from and transmit the first optical signals to the at least one photonics device via the optical channel; and

a signal converter connected between the first transceiver and the second transceiver, configured to convert the first electronic signals received from the first transceiver to the first optical signals and convert the second optical signals received from the second transceiver to the second electronic signals.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the virtual desktop server further comprises a chassis, the first processor and the photonics module are physically disposed in the chassis, and the at least one photonics device is physically disposed outside the chassis.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one photonics device comprises a server of the system.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the virtual desktop server further comprises a memory and a storage storing second computer executable code, and the second computer executable code, when executed at the first processor, is configured to:

allocate a portion of the storage to create a data store for preserving data from a plurality of virtual machines (VMs); and

allocate a portion of the memory to create a random access memory (RAM) disk for hosting the plurality of VMs and writing through the data from the plurality of VMs to the data store.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the at least one photonics device comprises at least one of a non-volatile memory, a volatile memory, a storage device, and a graphic processor unit of the virtual desktop server.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the storage of the virtual desktop server further stores a hypervisor and a persistent copy of the plurality of VMs, wherein the virtual desktop server is configured to:

execute the hypervisor;

copy the VMs from the persistent copy to the RAM disk; and

execute the VMs at the RAM disk on the executed hypervisor,

wherein each of the executed VMs is configured to provide one or more virtual desktops accessible for a plurality of computing devices functioning as a plurality of thin clients.

12. A method for providing a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) system using photonics, comprising:

controlling, by a photonics controller of a virtual desktop server, a photonics interface of the virtual desktop server to receive first electronic signals from a first processor of the virtual desktop server, wherein the photonics interface is configured to be electronically connected to the first processor and at least one photonics device via an optical channel;

converting, by the photonics controller, the received first electronic signals to first optical signals;

controlling, by the photonics controller, the photonics interface to transmit the first optical signals to the at least one photonics device via the optical channel;

controlling, by the photonics controller, the photonics interface to receive second optical signals from the at least one photonics device via the optical channel;

converting, by the photonics controller, the received second optical signals to second electronic signals; and

controlling, by the photonics controller, the photonics interface to transmit the second electronic signals to the first processor.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the virtual desktop server comprises a photonics module, and wherein the photonics module is a chip having the photonics interface and the photonics controller integrated therein.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the photonics interface is electronically connected to the first processor through a peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) bus.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the optical channel is at least one photonics channel, and the photonics interface is electronically connected to the at least one photonics channel through a photonics bus.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the photonics interface comprises:

a first input/output (I/O) port electronically connected with the first processor;

a second I/O port connected with the at least one photonics device;

a first transceiver connected with the first I/O port, configured to receive the first electronic signals from and transmit the second electronic signals to the first processor via the first I/O port;

a second transceiver connected with the second I/O port, configured to receive the second optical signals from and transmit the first optical signals to the at least one photonics device via the optical channel; and

a signal converter connected between the first transceiver and the second transceiver, configured to convert the first electronic signals received from the first transceiver to the first optical signals and convert the second optical signals received from the second transceiver to the second electronic signals.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the virtual desktop server further comprises a chassis, the first processor and the photonics module are physically disposed in the chassis, and the at least one photonics device is physically disposed outside the chassis.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the at least one photonics device comprises at least one of a non-volatile memory, a volatile memory, a storage device, and a graphic processor unit of the virtual desktop server.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the at least one photonics device comprises a server of the system.

20. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer executable code, wherein the code, when executed at a processor of a photonics controller of a virtual desktop server of a system, is configured to:

control a photonics interface of the virtual desktop server to receive first electronic signals from a processor of the virtual desktop server, wherein the photonics interface is configured to be connected to the processor of the virtual desktop server and at least one photonics device via an optical channel;

convert the received first electronic signals to first optical signals;

control the photonics interface to transmit the first optical signals to the at least one photonics device via the optical channel;

control the photonics interface to receive second optical signals from the at least one photonics device via the optical channel;

convert the received second optical signals to second electronic signals; and

control the photonics interface to transmit the second electronic signals to the processor of the virtual desktop server.

21. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 20, wherein the virtual desktop server comprises a photonics module, and wherein the photonics module is a chip having the photonics interface and the photonics controller integrated therein.

22. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 20, wherein the photonics interface is electronically connected to the processor of the virtual desktop server through a peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) bus.

23. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 20, wherein the optical channel is at least one photonics channel, and the photonics interface is electronically connected to the at least one photonics channel through a photonics bus.

24. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 20, wherein the photonics interface comprises:

a first input/output (I/O) port electronically connected with the processor of the virtual desktop server;

a second I/O port connected with the at least one photonics device;

a first transceiver connected with the first I/O port, configured to receive the first electronic signals from and transmit the second electronic signals to the processor of the virtual desktop server via the first I/O port;

a second transceiver connected with the second I/O port, configured to receive the second optical signals from and transmit the first optical signals to the at least one photonics device via the optical channel; and

a signal converter connected between the first transceiver and the second transceiver, configured to convert the first electronic signals received from the first transceiver to the first optical signals and convert the second optical signals received from the second transceiver to the second electronic signals.

25. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the virtual desktop server further comprises a chassis, the processor of the virtual desktop server and the photonics module are physically disposed in the chassis, and the at least one photonics device is physically disposed outside the chassis.

26. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the at least one photonics device comprises a server of the system.

27. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein the at least one photonics device comprises at least one of a non-volatile memory, a volatile memory, a storage device, and a graphic processor unit of the virtual desktop server.