Cable bandwidth extender

A method of operating a data access system that includes an external memory connected by a cable to a host, wherein the method comprises:

• providing a host with a processor and host memory, the processor having processor cache, a cable having cable connectors attached thereto, a FLC system built into a cable connector that is attached to the cable, and external memory;
• generating, with the processor, a data request for requested data;
• responsive to the host memory not storing the requested data, providing the data request to the FLC system in the cable connector;
• determining if the FLC system contains the requested data;
• responsive to the FLC system containing the requested data, retrieving the requested data from the FLC system in the connector, and providing the requested data to the processor in the host;
• responsive to the FLC controller not containing the requested data:
• forwarding the data request over the cable to the external memory;
• retrieving the requested data from the external memory;
• providing the requested data to the processor;
• providing the requested data to the FLC system;
• storing the requested data in FLC memory, in the connector, that is part of the FLC system;
• and
• updating a tag in the FLC system designating the recent use of the requested data.

A cable connector with data storage comprising:

• a data communication cable comprising a first end, an opposing second end, and electrical conductors between the first end and the second end;
• a first connector, at the first end, that is electrically connected to the channel, the first connector configured to connect, for data communication, to shared memory pool;
• a second connector, at the second end, that is electrically connected to the channel, the second connector configured to connect, for data communication, to a host computing device, the second connector having a final level cache system therein, the final level cache system comprising:
• connector memory configured to store data requested by the host computing device;
• a final level cache controller configured to:
• receive a data request for requested data from the host computing device
• determine if the requested data is in the connector memory;
• responsive to the requested data being in the connector memory, retrieve the requested data from the connector memory and provide it to the host computing device;
• responsive to the requested data not being in the connector memory, send the data request over the data communication cable to the shared memory pool;
• and
• a memory controller configured to interface the connector memory with the final level cache controller.