Reconfigurable computing cluster with assets closely coupled at the physical layer by means of an optical circuit switch

A compute node within a reconfigurable computing cluster having a first plurality of computing assets, each of the first plurality of computing assets coupled to an optical circuit switch by two or more bidirectional fiber optic communications paths, the compute node comprising:

• a second plurality of computing assets taken from the first plurality of computing assets, each of the second plurality of computing assets connected to at least two other computing assets from the second plurality of computing assets via the respective fiber optic communications paths and the optical circuit switch
• wherein each of the second plurality of computing assets further comprises:
• functional elements;
• and
• a smart network interface card (smart bridge) coupled to the functional elements via a multi-lane PCIE bus, wherein the smart bridges within the second plurality of computing assets are configured to transparently extend the multi-lane PCIE bus between connected pairs of computing assets via the fiber optic communications paths and the optical circuit switch.

A method for managing a reconfigurable computing cluster comprising:

• providing a reconfigurable computing cluster, comprising an optical circuit switch, two or more bidirectional fiber optic communication paths, and a first plurality of computing assets, wherein each of the first plurality of computing assets comprises functional elements, and a smart bridge coupled to the functional elements via a multi-lane PCIE (peripheral component interconnect express) bus, wherein the smart bridges within the first plurality of computing assets are configured to transparently extend the multi-lane PCIE bus between computing assets via the fiber optic communications paths and the optical circuit switch, and further wherein each of the first plurality of computing assets is connected to the optical circuit switch by the two or more bidirectional fiber optic communication paths to form a bidirectional ring network;
• receiving a request for a compute node;
• selecting, from the first plurality of computing assets, a second plurality of computing assets to implement the compute node;
• defining communications paths between the second plurality of computing assets to implement the compute node;
• the communication paths connecting each of the second plurality of computing assets to at least two other computing assets from the second plurality of computing assets;
• and
• configuring the optical circuit switch to provide the defined communications paths between the second plurality of computing assets.

A reconfigurable computing cluster comprising:

• an optical circuit switch;
• a first plurality of computing assets comprising functional elements, each of the first plurality of computing assets connected to the optical circuit switch by two or more bidirectional fiber optic communications paths;
• and
• a smart bridge coupled to the functional elements via a multi-lane PCIE (peripheral component interconnect express) bus,
• wherein the smart bridge within the first plurality of computing assets is configured to transparently extend the multi-lane PCIE bus between computing assets via the fiber optic communications paths and the optical circuit switch, and further wherein each of the first plurality of computing assets is connected to the optical circuit switch by the two or more bidirectional fiber optic communication paths to form a bidirectional ring network.