1AMD Aims Opteron-X ‘Kyoto’ Chips at Growing Microserver Space
by Jeffrey Burt
2AMD Has a Multi-Prong Strategy for the Microserver Space
AMD’s new Opteron-X processors—the X2150 and X1150—bring the chip maker’s x86 chips into the microserver mix. AMD already had traction in the space after buying SeaMicro last year, and officials have said the company will begin making ARM-based server chips in 2014.
3AMD’s Kyoto Chips Offer High Performance, Energy Efficiency
The company’s SoCs include as many as four cores and 32GB of DRAM, and are based on AMD’s “Jaguar” core architecture. They also consume as little as 9 watts of power.
4The Opteron X2150 Includes Integrated Graphics
Integrated into the X2150 are 128 AMD Radeon 8000 cores—seen here in the red block—enabling customers to leverage the SoC for multimedia server workloads. The chip consumes as little as 11 watts of power.
5The X1150 Chips is a CPU-Only Version
The Opteron X1150 does not include the integrated graphics technology, and it optimized for general scale-out server workloads, AMD officials say. It consumes as little as 9 watts.
6SeaMicro is a Key Part of AMD’s Microserver Strategy
AMD in 2012 bought SeaMicro, a microserver vendor that at the time was partnering with Intel. The acquisition not only brought AMD systems—such as the SeaMicro SM15000 system—but also the company’s Freedom Fabric technology.
7Intel is Moving Aggressively Into the Microserver Space
Intel officials last year launched the Atom S1200 SoCs, optimized for microservers. HP, in its Project Moonshot initiative, opted to run its first low-power microservers on Intel’s technology.
8Intel Later This Year Will Come Out With ‘Avoton’
The next generation of microserver-optimized Atom chips, dubbed Avoton, will come out later this year, and will be 22-nanometer chips based on the upcoming “Silvermont” microarchitecture. In this photo, Raejeanne Skillern, director of cloud marketing at Intel, holds an Avoton SoC in her left hand and a Centerton chip in her right.
9Calxeda Offers 32-Bit ARM-Based SoCs
Calxeda, with its EnergyCore chips, and other chip makers already are offering 32-bit ARM-based server chips and will make 64-bit chips based on ARM’s 64-bit ARMv8 architecture next year.
10Marvell Also Sells ARM-Based Server Chips
The chip maker’s quad-core Armada XP multi-core chips is based on ARM’s v7 designs.
11Applied Micro Has a 64-Bit ARM Chip in Hand
Applied Micro has a 64-bit ARM chip that not only has been tested by both HP and Dell in their low-power microservers.
12HP and Its Project Moonshot
HP officials are looking to build low-power microservers, starting with Intel’s Atom chips. Moonshot servers eventually also will include chips from AMD and ARM partners.
13Dell is Pushing Into the Microserver Space
Dell is testing a range of ARM-based SoCs in its microservers. Here is a shot of a Dell Zinc microserver running on Calxeda EnergyCore chips.