This is what Forrester VP and principal analyst Richard Fichera had to say about "The Machine" and from reading it, it appears to me to be a long ways off, if possible at all, and needing a lot of cooperation and help from the rest of the industry. As a matter of fact it's almost like they'll need POET to get it to work ,especially the photonics part.

Anyway a good read and Fichera kind of puts the whole "Machine" in perspective.

http://www.informationweek.com/infrastructure/pc-and-servers/hp-and-the-machine-big-hopes-big-hurdles/d/d-id/1278682