About the OlympusMons Awards

Data is regarded as one of the key production factors in the digital economy. As the digitalization of governments and industries deepens, massive amounts of data are being generated every day. Storing these data in a secure, efficient, green and sustainable way has become a pressing problem. Technological fields, such as diversified computing power, new storage media, high-performance networks, and intelligent data reduction offer as many opportunities for innovation as they do challenges.

Building a technological ecosystem, especially in the field of basic technology breakthroughs, requires the collaboration of all parties. That's why Huawei established the annual OlympusMons Awards in 2019 to lead the global research of data storage basic theories, break through key technical problems, accelerate the industrialization of scientific research achievements, and achieve industry-academia-research win-win collaboration.

Challenge 1
Creating Data Storage with Superb Cost-Effectiveness per Bit

It aims to build with memory and data as the center of the new data storage system based on innovative software and hardware technologies, such as self-driven storage system, transparent and secure large memory, data protection in massive data scenarios, data computing power network, storage system framework with separated storage and compute, and storage system oriented to the emerging data ecosystem, achieving superb cost-effectiveness per bit.

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Challenge 2
Foundational Technology Breakthrough in the Next-Generation Storage Industry

It aims at the key foundational technologies in the data storage field, such as the theoretical limit of compression, hardware offload of the model prediction-based compression algorithm, AI-prediction-based compression algorithm, and scenario-oriented compression algorithm, as well as new storage media technologies, such as DRAM high-reliability application, using new memory to replace media, storage and compute integration based on new media, and high-density storage media, and other latitude breakthroughs.
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OlympusMons Awarding Results

Team from Tsinghua University

Team from Institute of Microelectronics, CAS

Team from Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, CAS

Team from Sun Yat-sen University

At the 2021 Innovative Data Infrastructure Summit, the winners of the 2021 OlympusMons awards were officially presented with trophies and research bonuses.

The winning project was evaluated from 25 applications sent by four countries based on the dimensions of technical and business values. The Review Committee announced the OlympusMons Award (research bonus CNY 1 million) was presented to the team from Tsinghua University led by Zheng Weimin. The Committee then bestowed the OlympusMons Pioneer Award (research bonus CNY 500,000) to the team from Institute of Microelectronics, CAS led by Liu Ming; the team from Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, CAS led by Song Zhitang; and the team from Sun Yat-sen University led by Lu Yutong, for their contribution to the two challenges raised under the OlympusMons awards.

OlympusMons Award

Research Bonus: CNY 1,000,000

Achievement:

Key technologies of highly reliable and high-performance distributed storage systems
Team members:

Zheng Weimin, Wu Yongwei, Chen Kang, Shan Yingdi, Wang Runji (Tsinghua University)
Zheng Weimin

Wu Yongwei

Chen Kang

Shan Yingdi

Wang Runji
Achievement introduction:

Zheng Weimin's team built a reliable, high-performance distributed storage system that runs on the large-scale erasure code technology, high-speed RDMA network, fully decentralized block and metadata mechanism, and kernel bypass. The system has been commercially deployed in the finance, telecom, government, science and technology, and education sectors, topping the IO500 List for three consecutive times. In addition, the system has ranked first in the 10-Node Challenge List, a global ranking that executes multiple concurrent processes in 10 compute nodes to benchmark the I/O performance of an HPC storage system.

OlympusMons Pioneer Award

Research Bonus: CNY 500,000

Achievement:

Key technologies of embedded resistive random access memory (RRAM) on advanced nodes
Team members:

Liu Ming, Liu Qi, Lv Hangbing, Xu Xiaoxin, Yang Jianguo (Institute of Microelectronics, CAS)
Liu Ming

Liu Qi

Lv Hangbing

Xu Xiaoxin

Yang Jianguo
Achievement introduction:

Liu Ming's team spent 10 years trying to tackle the key challenges of RRAM, that is, physical mechanism, performance optimization, large-scale integration, and chip design. Their open approach led development of the world-leading technology that RRAM is integrated on 28 nm and 14 nm process nodes. The embedded RRAM-based chips developed by the team are the core of the full-stack RRAM solution that covers device, integration and IP application, and promoting new memory technology in China.

OlympusMons Pioneer Award

Research Bonus: CNY 500,000

Achievement:

Phase-change memory (PCM)
Team members:

Song Zhitang, Li Xi, Zhu Min, Song Sannian, Chen Houpeng (Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, CAS)
Song Zhitang

Li Xi

Zhu Min

Song Sannian

Chen Houpeng
Achievement introduction:

Song Zhitang's team first proposed that octahedral units formed by cations and anions are the basic units for nanosecond-level reversible phase changes; discovered the world's fastest phase-change materials; and developed the world's first Te switch array for three-dimensional integration based on the solid-liquid phase change theory. They independently developed the 151-step non-standard process for manufacturing the PCM on 12-inch wafers, achieving the commercial use of the 128 Mb PCM process and products.

OlympusMons Pioneer Award

Research Bonus: CNY 500,000

Achievement:

Massively scalable parallel file system
Team members:

Lu Yutong, Chen Zhiguang, Xiao Nong, Liu Yubo (Sun Yat-sen University)
Lu Yutong

Chen Zhiguang

Xiao Nong

Liu Yubo
Achievement introduction:

Lu Yutong's team made breakthroughs in the heterogeneous storage, specifically, in terms of the parallel file system architecture, distributed metadata management, and concurrent access. They independently developed Kapok, the leading high-concurrency, low-latency, and scalable parallel file system that manages trillions of files. The system has been deployed in national supercomputing centers, significantly improving multi-domain capabilities.