The Prospects for 128 Bit Processors ( John Mashey SGI 1995)

In 1995, John Mashey from SGI analyzed the trajectory toward 128-bit processors, examining both physical and virtual addressing needs. He argued that while 64-bit architecture was sufficient for the near term, the continued exponential growth of DRAM capacity (doubling every 3 years) and increasing complexity of multi-CPU systems would eventually necessitate moving to 128-bit addressing to accommodate larger memory systems and more flexible address space allocation. Mashey cautioned against assuming any architecture would suffice for 30 years, noting that similar assumptions about 16-bit and 32-bit systems had proven overly optimistic.