nCore HPC presents the BrownDwarf Y-class supercomputer, a heterogeneous ARM- and DSP-based super computer system using Texas Instrument’s ARM+DSP Server design on a blade. nCore’s primary customer is the US government. The supercomputer uses a heterogeneous architecture with 4 Arm Cortex A15 cores and 24 DSP cores with 16gb of memory per node and 1.2 terrabytes of physical memory in total. With HPC applications you need to hold much of what you are doing in memory. The vast amounts of computing power in the super computers have a wide variety applications such as medical imaging and simulation. Through programming you can divide programs among the ARM and DSP.
The AAEON CRS-200S-2R is the first ARM-based storage solution for the company’s Poseidon family of rackmount products targeted to serve the needs of cloud computing, high-density storage appliances and IP surveillance applications. The 1U AAEON CRS-200S-2R system is equipped with 12 3.5-insh SATA drives (other device options available) supported by three (3) Calxeda EnergyCore ECX-2000 series SoCs (Server-on-chips) that use the ARM Cortex-A15 quad-core processors. Storage solutions that need high performance without the often-obligatory high power consumption, the AAEON CRS-200S-2R is a viable candidate for use. Power Consumption including all 12 3.5″ 3/4TB hard drives is 150W vs 250W for a x86 storage server solution doing just about the same.
It’s an exciting time to be in technology. The IT industry is at a major inflection point driven by four generation-defining trends: the cloud, social, Big Data, and mobile. These trends are forever changing how consumers and businesses communicate, collaborate, and access information. And to accommodate these changes, enterprises, governments and fast growing companies desperately need a “New Style of IT.” Shaping the future of IT starts with a radically different approach to how we think about compute – for example, in servers, HP has a game-changing new category that requires 80% less space, uses 89% less energy, costs 77% less – and is 97% less complex. There’s never been a better time to be part of the ecosystem and usher in the next-generation of innovation.
Saving a lot of money compared to using x86 for cloud computing, web serving and for storage servers, Calxeda is able to show some of the latest Calxeda ARM Powered server solutions being developed and released to the server market by Foxconn, Aaeon and Gigabyte.
Open Compute is a project originally started by Facebook as “Project Freedom”, turned into a big community movement that is going to redefine how consumers consume enterprise hyperscale infrastructure.
Jon Masters runs Red Hat’s ARM team, and contributes to the Fedora ARM group also. Red Hat works as a part of the Linaro Enterprise Group, to work on the first generation of ARM Servers.
Dr. Leendert van Doorn, Corporate Fellow at AMD, talks about what AMD does with Linaro to optimize Linux on ARM. He talks about the expectations that AMD has for results to come from Linaro in terms of achieving a better and more fully featured Linux world on ARM, especially for the ARM Cortex-A57 ARMv8 processor that AMD has announced for the server market.
LSI designs semiconductors and software that accelerate storage and networking in datacenters and mobile networks. At Mobile World Congress 2013, LSI is introducing the Axxia 5500 16-core ARM Cortex-A15 to provide scalability, performance and low power consumption to meet the growing demand for mobile broadband.
Nvidia is building customer a GPU server platform that they call the Nvidia Grid for Cloud Gaming, to deliver advanced game streaming over the Internet. They are partnering with carriers and ISPs to install those Nvidia Grid servers on location near the gamers so that the performance of the streamed games is optimized minimizing the lag.
Marvell shows off the new OLPC XO-4 powered by the Marvell PXA2128 dual-core 1.2Ghz, Marvell 8787, and uses Neonode IR touch screen technology to thus add touch functionality to the One Laptop Per Child XO-4 laptop. Performance is thus increased and battery life further improved by using this latest 40nm process node Marvell ARM Processor in the upgrade.
The XO 4.0 is powered by the Marvell ARMADA PXA2128. Optimized by ARM v7 high-performance mobile processors with Hybrid-SMP technology at up to 1.2GHz, the PXA2128 reduces power consumption by roughly half and enables an extended battery life thanks to a low-power mobile (LPM) processor.
Features of the Marvell ARMADA PXA2128 include:
Marvell optimized ARM®v7 dual High-Performance Mobile (HPM) processors with Hybrid-SMP technology at up 1.2GHz
Architecturally matched ARMv7 Low-Power Mobile (LPM) processor optimized with Hybrid-SMP technology for extended battery life
Dual-channel independent memory controllers (LPDDR2 or DDR3/DDR3L)
Multiple power islands, dynamic voltage/frequency scaling, clock and power gating and standby modes
Powerful hardware accelerators for 2D/3D graphics, 1080p video, HiFi audio codecs and camera ISP
Dedicated security engine with hardware keys, secure memory and ARM® TrustZone® for secure boot and cryptography
Marvell’s Avastar 88W8787 delivers the wireless performance and range that will make the XO 4.0 a connected learning experience. Designed for both simultaneous and independent operation of the following:
IEEE 802.11a/g/b and 802.11n payload data rates for Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN)
Bluetooth 3.0 + High Speed (HS) (also compliant with Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR)
FM transmit and receive (digital encoder/decoder FM radio with RDS/RBDS)
The device supports the 802.11i security standard through implementation of the AES/CCMP, WEP with TKIP, AES/CMAC, and WLAN WAPI security mechanisms
Nvidia launches the Nvidia Grid, serving all games to any device from the cloud. (check back for proper product interviews and demos to be filmed at Nvidia’s booth in the days to come)
Red Hat is working on getting Fedora Linux up and running on ARMv8, Jon Masters talks about LEG Linaro Enterprise Group and getting the full Fedora Linux stack to work on 64bit ARMv8 server hardware from now and during next year as 64bit ARMv8 hardware becomes available. AMD, AppliedMicro, Calxeda, Canonical, Cavium, Facebook, HP, Marvell and Red Hat join existing Linaro members ARM, HiSilicon, Samsung and ST-Ericsson to form new group focused on accelerating Linux development for ARM servers.
Vinay Ravuri, Vice President and General Manager, Server Products at AppliedMicro gives an update on the 64bit ARM X-Gene Server Platform. At ARM Techcon 2012, AppliedMicro, ARM and several open-source software providers gave updates on their support of the ARM 64-bit X-Gene Server on a Chip Platform.
AMD has announced that they are launching a new ARM Cortex-A57 64bit ARMv8 Processor in 2014, targetted for the servers market. This is an interview with Andrew Feldman, VP and GM of Data Center Server Solutions Group at AMD. Do you have any more questions you may want to ask AMD about the release of their first ARM Processor? Let me know in the comments, and I can try to ask them again here at ARM Techcon in Santa Clara during the next couple of days.
Calxeda’s VP of Marketing Karl Freund talks about the status of Calxeda’s ARM Powered server solutions and how they are launching their upcoming ARM Cortex-A15 32bit and then ARM Cortex-A57 32/64bit processors, what type of markets they expect to reach in the months and years to come.
Also, I interviewed Calxeda today (video being uploaded..), they told me they have launched a new blog about ARM Powered Servers at http://armservers.com, check it out.
