Showing posts with label ARM Server. Show all posts
SAN JOSE, Calif. March 8, 2017 – Cavium, Inc. (NASDAQ: CAVM), announced today that they are collaborating with Microsoft on evaluating and enabling a variety of cloud workloads running on Cavium’s flagship ThunderX2 ARMv8-A Data Center processor for the Microsoft Azure cloud platform.
The
companies are also demonstrating web services on a version of Windows Server
developed for Microsoft’s internal use running cloud services workloads on
ThunderX2. The server platform is based on Microsoft’s Project Olympus –
Microsoft’s next generation open source hyperscale cloud hardware design. The demonstrations will be shown at the Open Compute Project (OCP) U.S. Summit in
San Jose on March 8 and 9, 2017 and are the result of an extensive long term
collaboration between the two companies.
The ThunderX2 product family is Cavium's second
generation 64-bit ARMv8-A server processor SoCs for Data Center, Cloud and High
Performance Computing applications. The family integrates fully out-of-order
high performance custom cores supporting single and dual socket configurations.
ThunderX2 is optimized to drive high computational performance delivering
outstanding memory bandwidth and memory capacity. The new line of ThunderX2
processors includes multiple workload optimized SKUs for both scale up and
scale out applications and is fully compliant with ARMv8-A architecture
specifications as well as ARM's SBSA and SBBR standards. It is also widely
supported by industry leading OS, Hypervisor and SW tool and application
vendors.
Cavium’s hardware platform is fully compliant with
Microsoft’s Project Olympus which is
one of the most modular and flexible cloud hardware design in the data center
industry. The platform integrates two ThunderX2
processors in a dual socket configuration. ThunderX2 SoC integrates a large
number of fully out-of-order custom ARMv8-A cores with rich IO connectivity for
accommodating a variety of peripherals for Azure, delivering excellent
throughput and latency for cloud applications. The platform has been designed
in collaboration with a leading server ODM supplier for Microsoft.
“Cavium is excited to work with Microsoft on
ThunderX2,” said Gopal Hegde, VP/GM, Data Center Processor Group at Cavium.
“ARM-based servers have come a long way with first generation ThunderX-based server
platforms being deployed at multiple data centers, which enabled a critical
mass of ecosystem partners for ARM. We see the second generation products
helping to drive a tipping point for ARM server deployment across a mainstream
set of volume applications. Microsoft’s support will help accelerate commercial
deployment of ARMv8 server platforms for Data Centers and Cloud.”
Dr. Leendert van Doorn, Distinguished Engineer,
Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Corp said, “We’re impressed with the innovation and
competitiveness of the latest generation of ARM server processors, like
ThunderX2, and are excited about the roadmap. Microsoft has developed a version
Windows Server, for Microsoft’s
internal use, that supports ARMv8. We have also have been working closely with
Cavium on ThunderX2 to support Microsoft’s Project Olympus design so they can
be consumed in our data centers.”
About Cavium
Cavium, Inc. (NASDAQ: CAVM), offers a broad portfolio of infrastructure solutions for compute, security, storage, switching, connectivity and baseband processing. Cavium’s highly integrated multi-core SoC products deliver software compatible solutions across low to high performance points enabling secure and intelligent functionality in Enterprise, Data Center and Service Provider Equipment. Cavium processors and solutions are supported by an extensive ecosystem of operating systems, tools, application stacks, hardware reference designs and other products. Cavium is headquartered in San Jose, CA with design centers in California, Massachusetts, India, Israel, China and Taiwan.
Cavium, Inc. (NASDAQ: CAVM), offers a broad portfolio of infrastructure solutions for compute, security, storage, switching, connectivity and baseband processing. Cavium’s highly integrated multi-core SoC products deliver software compatible solutions across low to high performance points enabling secure and intelligent functionality in Enterprise, Data Center and Service Provider Equipment. Cavium processors and solutions are supported by an extensive ecosystem of operating systems, tools, application stacks, hardware reference designs and other products. Cavium is headquartered in San Jose, CA with design centers in California, Massachusetts, India, Israel, China and Taiwan.
Media Contact:
Angel Atondo
Sr. Marketing Communications Manager
Telephone: +1 408-943-7417
Email: angel.atondo@cavium.com
Sr. Marketing Communications Manager
Telephone: +1 408-943-7417
Email: angel.atondo@cavium.com
2017
promises to be an exciting year for servers and the competitiveness of
compute offerings. This year will see this scope of impact not only
include enterprise datacenters and the public cloud, but extend to the
emergence of "edge computing". Edge computing is defined as compute
required to deal with data at or near the point of creation. Among other
things, these devices will include the “ocean” of remote, smart
sensors, commonly included in internet of things (IoT) discussions.
Here
is a list of a few things to we’ll see concerning specific CPUs.
It
should come as no surprise that Intel INTC -0.16% continues to dominate
(>99%) the server market but is under enormous pressure on all fronts. Xeon
and its evolution continue to be their compute vanguard. Xeon-Phi (and now the
addition of Nervana) make up their engines for high-performance computing /
machine learning. Phi has seen some success, but it isn’t clear yet how Nervana
offerings will materialize.
Advanced
Micro Devices AMD -0.57% (AMD) has their best shot in years for fielding an
Intel competitor that just about everyone (except perhaps Intel) is eager to
see. If the AMD Zen server CPU is simply good enough (meaning, it shows up,
works and has at least some performance value), it will take market share
simply by being an x86 competitor. AMD is encouraged by early indicators. They
also have their ATI GPGPU technology which will provide additional
opportunities.
ARM
Holdings will continue to dominate the mobile and embedded device space, but
the fight is hard in these segments. The more likely opportunity for ARM
expansion will be at the "edge" and not so much in the server space.
The death of Vulcan by Avago, the acquisition of Applied Micro Circuits (APM)
and their plan to find a place for X-Gene leaves the Cavium CAVM +0.69%
ThunderX, the "yet to be launched" Qualcomm QCOM -0.02% Centriq CPU
and a few other very focused ARM initiatives still standing. After years of
"This is the Year for ARM Servers", the outlook could be better, and
if AMD produces a plausible Intel competitor (capable of running x86 software),
it will put extreme pressure on whole ARM server CPU initiative.
OpenPOWER
seems on the other hand to have a lot of momentum but to date has not
significantly impacted the x86 server market. 2017 may end on a different note.
OpenPOWER‘s (IBM IBM -1.27%) willingness to embrace NVIDIA NVDA -0.74% (the
darling of the machine learning segment) and embed an NV-Link interface is
going to play well with much of AI and HPC communities. By the end of the year,
we will have seen some interesting OpenPOWER offerings emerge based on advanced
silicon process technology from a variety of sources, and 2018 may see a whole
different story. Especially if an embrace from Google GOOGL -0.14%, who has
been flirting with OpenPOWER for a while now, materializes and creates a
tipping point.
The
real challenge to all CPUs is the way they do work. Their philosophy is built
on the principle that data must come into the chip, be operated on by the chip,
with results or even new data being pushed out of the chip. This whole process
creates a natural bottleneck that we've flirted with for decades. As the
magnitude and scope of data increases, something has got to give, and a
favorite candidate is more parallelism. So far, this has favored GPGPUs or
accelerators.
At
the bigger-picture business level for datacenters and the public cloud, the
real question is not so much which CPU (in fact, the business folks probably
couldn't care less), but the economics of private, public or hybrid solutions.
It is safe to say enterprise computing will not disappear any time soon, and
while there is much activity, the implementations and economics of hybrid
solutions have proven to be difficult. According to Gartner, by 2020 more
compute power will have been sold by IaaS and PaaS cloud providers than sold
and deployed into enterprise datacenters. The fact that companies (especially
smaller ones) are either being born in or moving to the cloud at a rapid pace
is undeniable. However, NOT all are seeing the expected saving materialize from
this move. 2017 will certainly see some careful thinking and maybe even some
rethinking of strategy.
The
explosion of data at the edge is simply going to change data processing as we
know it and will create a variety of computing problems that are difficult to
do in the cloud (even though the results may end up there). However, they may
not be in the enterprise datacenters as we know them either, and we may find
them “stuck” all over the place. For more than sixty years, we have seen
compute follow the data. First from the original mainframe datacenter to the
desktop, to departmental servers, into enterprise datacenters, and now
significantly into the cloud. It is my opinion, that If you plan to put just
your data into the cloud, economics (the cost of network usage) will drive your
compute there sooner or later. You want to consider this carefully based on
your actual needs and usage. There might be a better overall business outcome,
depending on your size and ability to operate, in your own datacenter.
The
major emerging source of data is at the edge and will drive the need for much
compute there. By the way, all the CPUs mentions here should be able do the
edge reasonably well so … Game on again!
Disclosure:
My firm, Moor Insights & Strategy, like all research and analyst firms,
provides or has provided research, analysis, advising, and/or consulting to
many high-tech companies in the industry including Advanced Micro Devices,
Applied Micro Circuits, ARM Holdings, IBM, Intel, NVIDIA and Qualcomm. I do not
hold any equity positions with any companies cited in this column.
Microsoft has announced a partnership with Qualcomm to bring Windows 10 - real Windows 10, not the aborted cut-down version formerly known as Windows RT - to the company's ARM processors.
Microsoft's previous attempts at playing with non-x86/AMD64 platforms have not exactly set the world aflame. The company has long offered an embedded Windows release which supports ARM and other non-x86/AMD64 architectures, and recently made that available to a wider audience under the moniker Windows 10 IoT Core. Although Windows 10 IoT Core does indeed run on ARM-based devices, in particular the popular Raspberry Pi single-board computer, it's not Windows as most users would know it; instead it's a cut-down operating system designed to run a single application at a time, and built with the intention of winning over embedded developers from Linux and other non-Windows kernels to the Windows ecosystem.
The closest Microsoft has ever come to a true release of a consumer-centric Windows version on ARM was Windows RT, launched alongside Windows 8 on Microsoft's Surface family of tablets. While one or two hardware partners licensed Windows RT, it was soon abandoned by both third parties and Microsoft itself: Microsoft confirmed in 2015 that Windows RT would not be updated to a Windows 10-based version, and sank the final nail into its coffin a few months later by leaving Windows RT out of its so-called 'Universal' Windows Platform.
Now, though, Microsoft is having another crack of the whip, and it's convinced Qualcomm to come along for the ride. Devices built around Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon processors will, the companies have jointly announced, be able to run Windows 10 - and this time it's truly the same release of Windows you'd find on an x86/AMD64 device. Not only will it run Windows 10, mind you, but also Windows 10's considerable ecosystem of applications - including those compiled exclusively for Win32 under the x86 architecture and the Universal Windows Platform.
'To deliver on our customers' growing needs to create on the go, we announced today that Windows 10 is coming to ARM through our partnership with Qualcomm,' explained Microsoft's Terry Myerson in a blog post late last night. 'For the first time ever, our customers will be able to experience the Windows they know with all the apps, peripherals, and enterprise capabilities they require, on a truly mobile, power efficient, always-connected cellular PC.'
Technical details of how the system will work have not yet been released, but the secret lies in emulation: a translation engine will take the x86/AMD64 instructions from the operating system and the software it's hosting and translate them into ARM instructions for the host processor. It's a tried-and-tested approach which gave machines like the Acorn Archimedes and Commodore Amiga basic x86 support in the 1980s and 1990s, though one which typically comes with a considerable performance hit - something for which Qualcomm's latest chips, it is to be hoped, can compensate.
A video demonstrating Windows 10 and Adobe Photoshop running on an ARM-based device is reproduced below, with Qualcomm and Microsoft promising to launch the first units some time next year.
