Russian developers from the Avtomatika concern, part of the Rostec state corporation, on the sidelines of the XIV International Aviation and Space Salon MAKS-2019 presented the Elbrus 801M monoblock with a high degree of protection against hacker attacks and a productive central processor made in Russia. This was reported in the press service of the concern.
It is noted that "Elbrus 801M" meets all the usual requirements for a modern office computer, but at the same time, according to the developers, it significantly surpasses foreign analogues in terms of ensuring cybersecurity.
- All-in-One System Modules
- RIA News
- © Ramil Sitdikov
Monoblock "Elbrus 801M", which is now undergoing a phase of test operation, in the first place, may be of interest to Russian state and law enforcement agencies, including those with high requirements for information security, noted in "Automatics". In the future, developers rely on the mass production of a computer, its access to the world market and the demand among users.
The first supercomputers of the Elbrus brand appeared in the USSR in the 1970s. The name for computing machines was given by academician Sergei Lebedev, one of the founders of domestic computing. However, after the "perestroika" the project was frozen for many years. Only in 2007, the MCST company released the first computer with Elbrus microprocessors. In 2015, the company completed the development of the eight-core Elbrus-8C microprocessor, and in 2018, the Elbrus-8SV microprocessor. For 11 years, the performance of Elbrus family processors has grown 100 times.
Assistant General Director of the enterprise INEUM them. I.S. Bruk (who is part of Avtomatika), who created the new Elbrus computer, Konstantin Trushkin told RT about the revival of this project and the prospects for the development of Russian computer technology.
“We are now ready to accept orders for the production of such computers. Our monoblocks based on Russian-made processors are interested in those who need computers with domestic processors with a high level of protection against cyber attacks, ”said Trushkin.
According to him, the "Elbrus-8C" monoblock underlying it meets the requirements for modern processors for servers and workstations in its characteristics. Moreover, its development cost tens of times cheaper than that of foreign industry leaders, said Trushkin.
“The frequency of our processor is slightly lower than that of its foreign counterparts, and amounts to 1.3 GHz, however, each core of Elbrus performs a larger number of operations per clock, so under certain conditions the operating efficiency is even higher,” said the developer.
- Elbrus-8C processor
- © Press service of the Avtomatika concern
The key components of the Elbrus 801M computer — the motherboard, processor, and peripheral controller — were created in Russia. Domestic software is also used: BIOS and Russian-made operating system Elbrus Linux, compatibility with domestic ALT Linux and Astra Linux operating systems, as well as with foreign operating systems and applications in binary x86 codes, is provided. At the same time, most attention is paid to security issues.
“Most hacking methods known today for hacking computers against Elbrus do not work, for example, reverse-oriented programming. The architectural features of the processor, its original system of commands require the creation of new “master keys”, which simply do not exist today, they have not been developed yet, ”said Trushkin.
“Most Specter type attacks and any Meltdown type attacks for Elbrus aren't scary either,” he added.
In conclusion, the interlocutor of RT said that since 2018 preparations are underway for mass production of the next-generation Elbrus processor, and on its basis in 2020 it is planned to introduce an improved model of a monoblock.