Retrospective: DRPM: Dynamic Speed Control for Power Management in Server Class Disks

Abstract

Our ISCA 2003 DRPM paper was unique compared to computer architecture papers of that time in two respects. First, this paper focused on a layer of the memory hierarchy that was not a common topic in most computer architecture conferences then: storage. Second, the paper delved into the microarchitecture of the predominant storage device in servers at the time: the hard disk drive (HDD), whose internal composition is primarily electro-mechanical and details of which were rarely the focus of study in computer architecture. As maverick as this paper may have been, it was grounded in certain key trends and shifts in computing at the turn of the 21st century.