ECE@Cornell
ECE6960 Data Center Architecture Fall 2025

Course Description

The course will cover the state-of-the-art hardware and software architecture of datacenters that power almost all the cloud services we use today. We will discuss the specific requirements for datacenter hardware and software architecture and how these requirements influence the design of datacenters. We will explore new trends in processor architecture (both general-purpose and domain-specific), memory architecture, storage architecture, network architecture, system software architecture, and software architecture of datacenters.

Topics to Cover (Tentative)
  • Topic 1: Datacenter Introduction and History
    • Google case study
  • Topic 2: Datacenter Software
    • Software layers, killer application, development styles
  • Topic 3: Datacenter Performance
    • Metrics, tail latency, profiling
  • Topic 4: Datacenter Energy and Power
    • Metrics, energy proportionality, power management
  • Topic 5: Datacenter Network
    • Topologies, control plane, data plane
  • Topic 6: Datacenter Storage and Memory
    • Memory and storage disaggregation, tiered memory
  • Topic 7: Datacenter Compute
    • Post Moore CPUs, accelerators
  • Topic 8: Novel Paradigms
    • 2.5D and 3D packaging, near-data processing

    • Syllabus and Course Introduction

    Lecture time: MW 1:25 - 2:40 PM

    Class: Hollister Hall 320

    Textbooks:

  • BHR: "The Datacenter as a Computer: Designing Warehouse-Scale Machines, Third Edition," by L. Barroso , U. Hölzle , P. Ranganathan

    • Paper reviews are due before each class in Canvas.

    Instructor

    Prof. Mohammad Alian
    Office: 322 Rhodes Hall
    Office Hours: MW 2:40 - 3:30 PM
    Email: malian@cornell.edu

    Schedule (Tentative)

    Date Day Topic (Tentative) Reading (Before the Class) Comment
    August 25 M

    Topic 1: Intro to Datacenters (link)
    August 27 W

    Topic 1: Intro to Datacenters Continued

    Paper: ranaganathan-2024-ieeemicro (link)

    Book chapter: BHR Chapter 1

    Dennards Scaling (link)
    September 1 M

    No Class - Labor Day
    September 3 W

    Topic 1: Intro to Datacenters Continued

    Paper: leiserson-2020-science-roomatthetop (link)

    September 8 M

    Topic 1: Intro to Datacenters Continued

    Paper: barroso-2003-cacm-websearch (link)

    September 10 W

    Topic 2: Datacenters Software (link)

    Paper: gan-2019-asplos-microservices (link)

    September 15 M

    Topic 2: Datacenters Software Continued (link)

    Paper: dean-2013-cacm-tailatscale (link)
    September 17 W

    September 22 M

    Prelim 1

    Covers Topic-1 and Topic-2
    September 24 W Topic 3: Datacenter Performance

    Paper: barroso-2017-cacm-killermicroseconds (link)
    September 29 M
    October 1 W

    No Class - Traveling
    October 6 M
    October 8 W
    October 13 M

    No Class - Fall Break
    October 15 W
    October 20 W
    October 22 M
    October 24 W
    October 27 M
    October 29 W
    November 3 M

    Prelim 2
    November 5 W
    November 10 M
    November 12 W
    November 17 M
    November 19 W
    November 24 M
    November 26 W

    No Class - Thanksgiving Break
    December 1 M
    December 3 W
    December 8 M

    Final