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New Cavium ThunderX2 adopts 64-bit ARM-based servers to address application and workload requirements
Semiconductor
vendor Cavium announced Monday ThunderX2, its second generation of workload
optimized ARM server SoCs that targets high performance volume servers deployed
by public/private cloud and telecom communications data centers and high
performance computing applications. It is optimized for data center workloads
such as compute, security, storage, data analytics, network function
virtualization and distributed databases.
The ThunderX2 line of processors currently includes four workload optimized processors targeting different workloads.
The ThunderX2_CP has been optimized for cloud compute workloads such as private and public clouds, web serving, web caching, web search, commercial HPC workloads such as computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and reservoir modeling. This line supports multiple 10/25/40/50/100 GbE network Interfaces and PCIe Gen3 interfaces. It also includes accelerators for virtualization and vSwitch offload.
The ThunderX2_ST has been optimized for big data, cloud storage, massively parallel processing (MPP) databases and Data warehousing workloads. This family supports multiple 10/25/40/50/100 GbE network interfaces, PCIe Gen3 interfaces and SATAv3 interfaces. It also includes hardware accelerators for data protection/ integrity/security, user to user efficient data movement.
The ThunderX2_SC has been optimized for secure web front-end, security appliances and cloud RAN type workloads. This family supports multiple 10/25/40/50/100 GbE interfaces and PCIe Gen3 interfaces. Integrated hardware accelerators include Cavium’s industry leading, 5th generation NITROX security technology with acceleration for IPSec, RSA and SSL.
The ThunderX2_NT has been optimized for media servers, scale-out embedded applications and NFV type workloads. This family supports multiple 10/25/40/50/100 GbE interfaces. It also includes OCTEON style hardware accelerators for packet parsing, shaping, lookup, QoS and forwarding.
“The Cavium ThunderX2 will expand the market opportunity for ARM-based server technologies by addressing demanding application and workload requirements for compute, storage networking and security,” said Simon Segars, CEO, ARM. “ThunderX2 demonstrates Cavium’s ability to deliver a combination of innovation and engineering execution and the new product family increases the momentum for server deployments powered by ARM processors in large scale data centers and end user environments.”
Cavium’s ThunderX2 SoC line is supported by a comprehensive software ecosystem ranging from platform level systems management and firmware to commercial operating systems, development environments and applications.
Cavium has actively engaged in server industry standards groups such as UEFI and delivered numerous reference platforms to an array of community and corporate partners. Cavium has also demonstrated its position in the open source software community driving upstream kernel enablement for ThunderX, actively contributing to Linaro’s enterprise and networking groups, investing in Linux Foundation projects such as Xen and OPNFV and sponsoring the FreeBSD Foundation’s ARMv8 server implementation.
ThunderX2 will deliver two to three times the performance across a range of standard benchmarks and applications compared to ThunderX, while boosting the market reach of the ThunderX line of processors by targeting applications that require high single thread performance such as web search, graph analytics, a variety of enterprise applications such as massively parallel processing (MPP) databases, data warehousing and enterprise HPC applications such as computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and reservoir modelling. ThunderX2 will deliver comparable performance at a better total cost of ownership compared to the next generation of traditional server processors.
The ThunderX2 line of processors currently includes four workload optimized processors targeting different workloads.
The ThunderX2_CP has been optimized for cloud compute workloads such as private and public clouds, web serving, web caching, web search, commercial HPC workloads such as computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and reservoir modeling. This line supports multiple 10/25/40/50/100 GbE network Interfaces and PCIe Gen3 interfaces. It also includes accelerators for virtualization and vSwitch offload.
The ThunderX2_ST has been optimized for big data, cloud storage, massively parallel processing (MPP) databases and Data warehousing workloads. This family supports multiple 10/25/40/50/100 GbE network interfaces, PCIe Gen3 interfaces and SATAv3 interfaces. It also includes hardware accelerators for data protection/ integrity/security, user to user efficient data movement.
The ThunderX2_SC has been optimized for secure web front-end, security appliances and cloud RAN type workloads. This family supports multiple 10/25/40/50/100 GbE interfaces and PCIe Gen3 interfaces. Integrated hardware accelerators include Cavium’s industry leading, 5th generation NITROX security technology with acceleration for IPSec, RSA and SSL.
The ThunderX2_NT has been optimized for media servers, scale-out embedded applications and NFV type workloads. This family supports multiple 10/25/40/50/100 GbE interfaces. It also includes OCTEON style hardware accelerators for packet parsing, shaping, lookup, QoS and forwarding.
“The Cavium ThunderX2 will expand the market opportunity for ARM-based server technologies by addressing demanding application and workload requirements for compute, storage networking and security,” said Simon Segars, CEO, ARM. “ThunderX2 demonstrates Cavium’s ability to deliver a combination of innovation and engineering execution and the new product family increases the momentum for server deployments powered by ARM processors in large scale data centers and end user environments.”
Cavium’s ThunderX2 SoC line is supported by a comprehensive software ecosystem ranging from platform level systems management and firmware to commercial operating systems, development environments and applications.
Cavium has actively engaged in server industry standards groups such as UEFI and delivered numerous reference platforms to an array of community and corporate partners. Cavium has also demonstrated its position in the open source software community driving upstream kernel enablement for ThunderX, actively contributing to Linaro’s enterprise and networking groups, investing in Linux Foundation projects such as Xen and OPNFV and sponsoring the FreeBSD Foundation’s ARMv8 server implementation.
ThunderX2 will deliver two to three times the performance across a range of standard benchmarks and applications compared to ThunderX, while boosting the market reach of the ThunderX line of processors by targeting applications that require high single thread performance such as web search, graph analytics, a variety of enterprise applications such as massively parallel processing (MPP) databases, data warehousing and enterprise HPC applications such as computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and reservoir modelling. ThunderX2 will deliver comparable performance at a better total cost of ownership compared to the next generation of traditional server processors.
During our work with the Cavium ThunderX platform, we have had access to a single 48-core ARMv8 2.0GHz SKU. Cavium’s strategy is to target different processor models into different market. Aside from clock speed and core count, Cavium has feature-based differentiation for its different ThunderX product families. We received permission to publish information on the different SKUs and their unique features.
The four Cavium ThunderX families (ThunderX_CP, ThunderX_ST, ThunderX_SC, ThunderX_NT) have a similar base architecture. From this common architecture, each chip is tailored to its targeted application. There are a few common underpinnings but this is the basic block diagram that shows all potential components of the platform.
The ThunderX_CP family is targeted at compute workloads. These chips target public and private clouds, web caching and web serving, search, social media and similar applications. The main accelerator in this family is the vSwitch Offload Engine. If you think about the application workload this is targeted at, one will take advantage of the high speed networking, multitude of cores and RAM bandwidth.
With Cavium’s strong networking portfolio as well as 16x SATA III 6.0gbps ports (60% more than a comparable Intel single socket system), storage is an application where the ThunderX architecture is well suited. The ThunderX_ST family targets block, object and distributed file storage workloads, distributed database applications and Hadoop style workloads. It comes in 8-48 core variants and has additional hardware accelerators such as the compression engine available.
Building on the high core count and the high-end networking throughput, the Cavium ThunderX_SC is focused on applications like eCommerce web servers. Cavium includes hardware accelerators for SSL, IPSec, deep packet inspection, anti-virus and anti-malware to free CPU cycles. Cavium has IP that it uses in dedicated Nitrox III chips that it leverages here.
With Cavium’s background as a networking company, and given the specs of the ThunderX chips, one area we think the company will do well in is in the networking and SP cloud space. The ThunderX_NT targets network function virtualization (NFV) servers and the telecom clouds being deployed with a mix of high bandwidth along with hardware accelerators. Like the storage family, the networking focused family can scale from 8-48 cores.
Final Words
We have been working with a single socket Cavium ThunderX machine, the Gigabyte R120-T30 server thus far and the results have been impressive. Cavium is embracing a different approach to product differentiation than Intel. While Intel is generally focused on raw x86 performance, Cavium’s SoC design allows it to differentiate on features. This can include networking, storage accelerators and other vectors. The Cavium ThunderX family is the first ARMv8 chip we have seen, in production, that can legitimately match and outpace parts of the Intel Xeon E5 line in terms of performance.
Gigabyte
and Cavium have announced a new lineup of products that provide “a compelling,
high performance alternative” to the incumbent server technologies available on
the market. In total 14 new server SKUs, leveraging Gigabyte’s server expertise
and Cavium’s ThunderX ARM-based platform, have been announced.
The Cavium ThunderX ARM 64-bit ARMv8 SOCs are described as workload optimised chips for data centre and cloud processing. They are available with up to 48 cores and in clock speeds of up to 2.5GHz. Gigabyte’s new servers are available in dual-socket configurations and allow for up to 2.0GHz clock speeds. Other key specs of Gigabyte’s market ready server products are:
- The
highest integrated I/O capability with up to 160Gb of I/O bandwidth
- Four
DDR4 72-bit memory controllers capable of supporting up to 1TB of memory
in a dual socket configuration at 2133MHz
- Best
in class performance per watt and performance per dollar for storage and
compute applications
- A comprehensive range of designs, from cost-focused entry level solutions to high density storage and compute focused platforms
Adopters of the ‘disruptive’ new Cavium ThunderX based servers
from Gigabyte will achieve similar performance but a “more compelling TCO” than
using traditional x86 server systems. As well as the expected fanfare for these
server products from hardware partners Gigabyte, Cavium, and ARM, industry big
hitters such as Red Hat, Innodisk, SUSE and QLogic were among those to welcome
the introduction of these servers.
Customers in the US, Europe and Asia are already starting to
receive Cavium ThunderX based Gigabyte server products and they are available
to order now. Cloud service providers have already demonstrated strong demand
for the new SKUs says Gigabyte.
Collaboration brings the world's most powerful 64-bit ARM®
based servers to market to address increasingly demanding application
and workload requirements
SHANGHAI,
China., July 19, 2016 –GIGABYTE Technology (TWSE: 2376), a leading manufacturer of
motherboards and barebones for server applications, and Cavium Inc. (NASDAQ:
CAVM), a leading provider of semiconductor products that enable intelligent
processing for enterprise, cloud, and data center, today announced a line-up of
products built on the industry-leading ThunderX family of
workload-optimized ARM server SoCs.
At a joint event in Shanghai, GIGABYTE and Cavium officially announced the release of a range of 14 server SKUs – the results of co-operation based on the Cavium ThunderX platform, utilizing GIGABYTE's almost 20 years of experience in the server industry. With these products, the partnership has produced a compelling, high performance alternative to the incumbent solutions in the market. GIGABYTE and Cavium had the honor of inviting ecosystem partners - ARM, Innodisk, Linaro, Qlogic, Red Hat, and Suse - all of which have committed resource to bringing ARM-based servers to the mainstream enterprise market - as guest speakers at the event. GIGABYTE and Cavium are working with these stakeholders to bring higher performance-per-dollar to the server market and open up a range of potential new applications.
This solution targets high performance volume servers deployed by Public/Private Cloud and Telco data centers. It is optimized for key Data Center workloads including compute, security, storage, and distributed databases. GIGABYTE ThunderX servers deliver comparable performance at a more compelling TCO than traditional x86 server systems.
Key GIGABYTE
ThunderX Server Features
GIGABYTE has utilized its know-how to become the first and only server vendor to capture the benefits of Cavium’s revolutionary design and bring disruptive new solutions to the market through production-ready server products, which bring about:
GIGABYTE has utilized its know-how to become the first and only server vendor to capture the benefits of Cavium’s revolutionary design and bring disruptive new solutions to the market through production-ready server products, which bring about:
- - Adoption
of the first dual-socket ARM SoC architecture that scales up to 48 cores
per processor with up to 2.0 GHz core frequency
- - The
highest integrated I/O capability with up to 160Gb of I/O bandwidth
- - Four
DDR4 72 bit memory controllers capable of supporting up to 1TB of memory
in a dual socket configuration at 2133MHz
- - Best
in class performance per watt and performance per dollar for storage and
compute applications
- - A
comprehensive range of designs, from cost-focused entry level solutions to
high density storage and compute focused platforms
"GIGABYTE has developed and is
already shipping a range of Cavium ThunderX-based server products to customers
in US, Europe and Asia," said Andy Chen, AVP, Network and Communications
Business Unit, GIGABYTE. "Our comprehensive portfolio of ThunderX-based
systems is available for order and a number of customers have already received
production units. We are seeing strong demand for these ARM-based platforms –
especially from cloud service providers."
A comprehensive ecosystem is key to the
development of a market for ARM-based servers. To this end, we have been
working with stakeholders across the value chain. GIGABYTE’s release partners
contributed their views on co-operation and the market in general:
ARM:
"The momentum for ARM-based servers is building and the new range of server products from GIGABYTE and Cavium enhances choice for companies seeking to match compute needs with the most energy and cost-effective solutions,” said Lakshmi Mandyam, senior marketing director of server program, ARM. “It is excellent to see ARM partners at the heart of driving innovative solutions that are delivering to the rigorous demands of cloud data center application and workload diversity.”
"The momentum for ARM-based servers is building and the new range of server products from GIGABYTE and Cavium enhances choice for companies seeking to match compute needs with the most energy and cost-effective solutions,” said Lakshmi Mandyam, senior marketing director of server program, ARM. “It is excellent to see ARM partners at the heart of driving innovative solutions that are delivering to the rigorous demands of cloud data center application and workload diversity.”
CAVIUM:
“The ARM server market is beginning to expand and grow and mature” said Rishi Chugh, Director, Data Center Processor Group at Cavium. “GIGABYTE is the perfect partner to lead this effort and showcase the breadth of ThunderX-based workload optimized server platforms delivering the flexibility and performance required for next generation cloud data centers.”
“The ARM server market is beginning to expand and grow and mature” said Rishi Chugh, Director, Data Center Processor Group at Cavium. “GIGABYTE is the perfect partner to lead this effort and showcase the breadth of ThunderX-based workload optimized server platforms delivering the flexibility and performance required for next generation cloud data centers.”
Red Hat:
"Red Hat1 has been collaborating with GIGABYTE for quite some time via the Red Hat ARM Partner Early Access Program, as they worked to develop systems based on Cavium's ThunderX processor family," said Tim Burke, vice president, Linux Engineering, Red Hat. "These new, scalable servers serve as an excellent example of the technical innovation and standardization efforts within the growing ARM ecosystem. We are very pleased that as a result of our joint efforts we currently have Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server for ARM Development Preview running on GIGABYTE systems in lab and development environments."
"Red Hat1 has been collaborating with GIGABYTE for quite some time via the Red Hat ARM Partner Early Access Program, as they worked to develop systems based on Cavium's ThunderX processor family," said Tim Burke, vice president, Linux Engineering, Red Hat. "These new, scalable servers serve as an excellent example of the technical innovation and standardization efforts within the growing ARM ecosystem. We are very pleased that as a result of our joint efforts we currently have Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server for ARM Development Preview running on GIGABYTE systems in lab and development environments."
Innodisk:
“Innodisk is a leading provider of industrial-grade storage solutions. Innodisk’s miniDIMM and RDIMM series solutions, especially aimed at server and telecommunication applications, have been certified by GIGABYTE and Cavium. Innodisk has collaborated with GIGABYTE and CAVIUM for years and looks forward to continuing to provide the best storage solutions in this field,” said Samson Chang, Vice President, Embedded DRAM division of Innodisk.
“Innodisk is a leading provider of industrial-grade storage solutions. Innodisk’s miniDIMM and RDIMM series solutions, especially aimed at server and telecommunication applications, have been certified by GIGABYTE and Cavium. Innodisk has collaborated with GIGABYTE and CAVIUM for years and looks forward to continuing to provide the best storage solutions in this field,” said Samson Chang, Vice President, Embedded DRAM division of Innodisk.
SUSE
“SUSE’s collaboration with Cavium and GIGABYTE has helped to bring AArch64 and cloud solutions to our customers, a development which is also highly meaningful for the development of the industry,” said Andy Jiang, Vice President, Asia Pacific & Japan General Manager with SUSE. “With the hyper-scale hardware of GIGABYTE, SUSE can now deliver the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, SUSE Enterprise Storage and SUSE OpenStack Cloud to our clients. Cavium and GIGABYTE have demonstrated strong leadership in the ARM server market, and SUSE will work continue to closely with them.”
“SUSE’s collaboration with Cavium and GIGABYTE has helped to bring AArch64 and cloud solutions to our customers, a development which is also highly meaningful for the development of the industry,” said Andy Jiang, Vice President, Asia Pacific & Japan General Manager with SUSE. “With the hyper-scale hardware of GIGABYTE, SUSE can now deliver the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, SUSE Enterprise Storage and SUSE OpenStack Cloud to our clients. Cavium and GIGABYTE have demonstrated strong leadership in the ARM server market, and SUSE will work continue to closely with them.”
QLogic:
“The advent of data center-class ARM processors provide end users options to tailor hardware to suit specific workloads,” said Greg Scherer, vice president and CTO, QLogic. “The new ThunderX-based servers push the envelope of compute and drive the need for higher speed I/O.”
“The advent of data center-class ARM processors provide end users options to tailor hardware to suit specific workloads,” said Greg Scherer, vice president and CTO, QLogic. “The new ThunderX-based servers push the envelope of compute and drive the need for higher speed I/O.”
About GIGABYTE
GIGABYTE, headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan, is known as a global brand in the IT industry, with employees and business channels in almost every country. Founded in 1986, GIGABYTE started as a research and development team and has since taken the lead in the world's motherboard and graphics card markets.
GIGABYTE, headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan, is known as a global brand in the IT industry, with employees and business channels in almost every country. Founded in 1986, GIGABYTE started as a research and development team and has since taken the lead in the world's motherboard and graphics card markets.
On
top of motherboards and graphics cards, GIGABYTE has become a leading
producer of server hardware. Taking advantage of many years of
know-how in motherboard design and manufacturing, GIGABYTE uses the most
reliable components and aims for the highest quality standards only. This focus
on excellence has allowed the company to work successfully with the
biggest names in the server industry over the years, fueling its dedication to
keep creating innovative server solutions for the future.
About Cavium
Cavium is a leading provider of highly integrated semiconductor products that enable intelligent processing in enterprise, data center, cloud, wired and wireless service provider applications. Cavium offers a broad portfolio of integrated, software compatible processors ranging in performance up to 100 Gbps that enable secure, intelligent functionality in enterprise, data center, broadband and access & service provider equipment. Cavium’s processors are supported by ecosystem partners that provide operating systems, tool support, reference designs and other services. Cavium’s principal offices are in San Jose, California with design team locations in California, Massachusetts, India, and China. For more information, please visit: http://www.Cavium.com.
Cavium is a leading provider of highly integrated semiconductor products that enable intelligent processing in enterprise, data center, cloud, wired and wireless service provider applications. Cavium offers a broad portfolio of integrated, software compatible processors ranging in performance up to 100 Gbps that enable secure, intelligent functionality in enterprise, data center, broadband and access & service provider equipment. Cavium’s processors are supported by ecosystem partners that provide operating systems, tool support, reference designs and other services. Cavium’s principal offices are in San Jose, California with design team locations in California, Massachusetts, India, and China. For more information, please visit: http://www.Cavium.com.
GIGABYTE Contact
Stuart Coyle
Marketing Communications
Telephone: +886-2-8912-4000
Email: stuart.coyle@GIGABYTE.com
Stuart Coyle
Marketing Communications
Telephone: +886-2-8912-4000
Email: stuart.coyle@GIGABYTE.com
Cavium Contact
Angel Atondo
Sr. Marketing Communications Manager
Telephone: +1 408-943-7417
Email: angel.atondo@cavium.com
Angel Atondo
Sr. Marketing Communications Manager
Telephone: +1 408-943-7417
Email: angel.atondo@cavium.com
