Abstract: Embodiments of systems, apparatuses and methods provide enhanced function as a service (FaaS) to users, e.g., computer developers and cloud service providers (CSPs). A computing system configured to provide such enhanced FaaS service include one or more controls architectural subsystems, software and orchestration subsystems, network and storage subsystems, and security subsystems. The computing system executes functions in response to events triggered by the users in an execution environment provided by the architectural subsystems, which represent an abstraction of execution management and shield the users from the burden of managing the execution. The software and orchestration subsystems allocate computing resources for the function execution by intelligently spinning up and down containers for function code with decreased instantiation latency and increased execution scalability while maintaining secured execution.

Abstract: Various approaches to efficiently allocating and utilizing hardware resources in data centers while maintaining compliance with a service level objective (SLO) specified for a computational workload is translated into a hardware-level SLO to facilitate direct enforcement by the hardware processor, e.g., using a feedback control loop or model-based mapping of the hardware-level SLO to allocations of microarchitecture resources of the processor. In some embodiments, a computational model of the hardware behavior under resource contention is used to predict the application performance (e.g., as measured in terms of the hardware-level SLO) to be expected under certain contention scenarios. Scheduling of workloads among the compute nodes within the data center may be based on such predictions. In further embodiments, configurations of microservices are optimized to minimize hardware resources while meeting a specified performance goal.

Abstract: Embodiments of systems, apparatuses and methods provide enhanced function as a service (FaaS) to users, e.g., computer developers and cloud service providers (CSPs). A computing system configured to provide such enhanced FaaS service include one or more controls architectural subsystems, software and orchestration subsystems, network and storage subsystems, and security subsystems. The computing system executes functions in response to events triggered by the users in an execution environment provided by the architectural subsystems, which represent an abstraction of execution management and shield the users from the burden of managing the execution. The software and orchestration subsystems allocate computing resources for the function execution by intelligently spinning up and down containers for function code with decreased instantiation latency and increased execution scalability while maintaining secured execution.

Abstract: Methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture for loading of a container image are disclosed. An example apparatus includes a prioritizer to determine a priority level at which a container is to be executed. A container controller is to determine a first expected location for a first set of layers of the container, the container controller to determine a second expected location for a second set of layers of the container, the first expected location and the second expected location determined based on the determined priority level, the second set of layers separated from the first set of layers in an image by a landmark. A container loader is to mount the first set of layers from the first expected location. A container executor is to initiate execution of the container based on the mounted first set of layers.

Abstract: Example methods and systems are directed to isolating memory in trusted execution environments (TEEs). In function-as-a-service (FaaS) environments, a client makes use of a function executing within a TEE on a FaaS server. To minimize the trusted code base (TCB) for each function, each function may be placed in a separate TEE. However, this causes the overhead of creating a TEE to be incurred for each function. As discussed herein, multiple functions may be placed in a single TEE without compromising the data integrity of each function. For example, by using a different extended page table (EPT) for each function, the virtual address spaces of the functions are kept separate and map to different, non-overlapping physical address spaces. Partial overlap may be permitted to allow functions to share some data while protecting other data. Memory for each function may be encrypted using a different encryption key.

Abstract: In function-as-a-service (FaaS) environments, a client makes use of a function executing within a trusted execution environment (TEE) on a FaaS server. Multiple tenants of the FaaS platform may provide functions to be executed by the FaaS platform via a gateway. Each tenant may provide code and data for any number of functions to be executed within any number of TEEs on the FaaS platform and accessed via the gateway. Additionally, each tenant may provide code and data for a single surrogate attester TEE. The client devices of the tenant use the surrogate attester TEE to attest each of the other TEEs of the tenant and establish trust with the functions in those TEEs. Once the functions have been attested, the client devices have confidence that the other TEEs of the tenant are running on the same platform as the gateway.

Abstract: A system may provide integrated uninterrupted power supply for computer systems. The system comprise a first unit that outputs an AC input voltage, and produces an AC output voltage from a battery voltage in response to the AC input voltage being absent; and a second unit that produces a DC output voltage from the AC input voltage, and produces the DC output voltage from the battery voltage in response to the AC input voltage being absent.

Abstract: A desktop system having a detachable flat panel display is described herein. In one embodiment, a desktop system example includes a desktop chassis enclosing a desktop computer and a flat panel display (FPD) device, where the FPD device is non-fixedly attached to a surface of the desktop chassis. The FPD device includes a display panel capable of rotating in at least two dimensions with respect to the surface of the desktop chassis. Other methods and apparatuses are also described.

Abstract: A system may provide integrated uninterrupted power supply for computer systems. The system comprise a first unit that outputs an AC input voltage, and produces an AC output voltage from a battery voltage in response to the AC input voltage being absent; and a second unit that produces a DC output voltage from the AC input voltage, and produces the DC output voltage from the battery voltage in response to the AC input voltage being absent.

Abstract: It is disclosed a method that may monitor and control loan instalment or other fee payment for an asset. The method may comprise checking validity status of a first license that comprises allowable usage information of a user device; and disabling use of the user device based on the validity status to control payment for the user device.