AMD Unveils Server Strategy

AMD publicly disclosed its strategy and roadmap to recapture market share in enterprise and datacentre servers by unveiling innovative products that address key technologies and meet the requirements of the fastest-growing datacentre and cloud computing workloads.

Additionally, AMD revealed details of its 2014 server portfolio including best-in-class Accelerated Processing Units (APUs), two and four-socket CPUs, and details on what it expects to be the industry’s premier ARM server processor. This is on the heels of announcing the general availability of the AMD Opteron X-Series processor, code named “Kyoto,” which dominates the small-core server market on every performance benchmark. These forthcoming AMD Opteron processors bring important innovations to the rapidly changing compute market, including integrated CPU and GPU compute (APU); high core-count ARM servers for high-density compute in the datacentre; and substantial improvements in compute per-watt per-dollar and total cost of ownership.

“Our strategy is to differentiate ourselves by using our unique IP to build server processors that are particularly well matched to a target workload and thereby drive down the total cost of owning servers. This strategy unfolds across both the enterprise and datacentres and includes leveraging our graphics processing capabilities and embracing both x86 and ARM instruction sets,” said Andrew Feldman, General Manager of the Server Business Unit, AMD. “AMD led the world in the transition to multicore processors and 64-bit computing, and we intend to do it again with our next-generation AMD Opteron families.”

In 2014, AMD will set the bar in power-efficient server compute with the industry’s premier ARM server CPU. The 64-bit CPU, code named “Seattle,” is based on ARM Cortex-A57 cores and is expected to provide category-leading throughput as well as setting the bar in performance-per-watt. AMD will also deliver a best-in-class APU, code named “Berlin.” “Berlin” is an x86 CPU and APU, based on a new generation of cores named “Steamroller.” Designed to double the performance of the recently available “Kyoto” part, “Berlin” will offer extraordinary compute-per-watt that will enable massive rack density.

The third processor announced is code named “Warsaw,” AMD’s next-generation 2P/4P offering. It is optimised to handle the heavily virtualised workloads found in enterprise environments including the more complex compute needs of data analytics, xSQL and traditional databases. “Warsaw” will provide significantly improved performance-per-watt over today’s AMD Opteron 6300 family.