Nvidia announces Project Denver high performance ARM processor which includes Server Scenario

I’ve been discussing the idea of ARM servers for a couple of years and had early discussions with some folks with ARM on whether there was a scenario for ARM servers.

Today Nvidia announces an ARM processor targeting the server scenario.

NVIDIA Announces "Project Denver" to Build Custom CPU Cores Based on ARM Architecture, Targeting Personal Computers to Supercomputers


NVIDIA Licenses ARM Architecture to Build Next-Generation Processors That Add a CPU to the GPU

LAS VEGAS, NV -- (Marketwire) -- 01/05/2011 -- CES 2011 -- NVIDIA announced today that it plans to build high-performance ARM® based CPU cores, designed to support future products ranging from personal computers and servers to workstations and supercomputers.

Known under the internal codename "Project Denver," this initiative features an NVIDIA® CPU running the ARM instruction set, which will be fully integrated on the same chip as the NVIDIA GPU.

This new processor stems from a strategic partnership, also announced today, in which NVIDIA has obtained rights to develop its own high performance CPU cores based on ARM's future processor architecture. In addition, NVIDIA licensed ARM's current Cortex™-A15 processor for its future-generation Tegra® mobile processors.

"ARM is the fastest-growing CPU architecture in history," said Jen-Hsun Huang, president and chief executive officer of NVIDIA. "This marks the beginning of the Internet Everywhere era, where every device provides instant access to the Internet, using advanced CPU cores and rich operating systems.

The mobile market is helping to drive energy efficient processors and this momentum is spilling over to the server market.  Within two years we should see ARM servers that are using a fraction of current servers.  Which is a big direction for greener data centers.

Why argue over a PUE change of 0.10 when you can drop your power use by 80%.

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One Role to Rule All Server HW, Facebook's Manager of Supply Chain Operations

I've run some analysis thanks to a variety of contributors on the Facebook Server count and the number is bigger than anybody else I have seen discuss.  Over 100,000 servers.  When server counts get that high managing them takes a different type of person than the purchasing department.

I found this job posting on Facebook for Manager, Supply Chain Operations.  The Facebook guys have identified a Wal-mart type of supply chain manager.

Manager, Supply Chain Operations

Facebook is seeking a seasoned leader to be responsible for managing the Supply Chain Operations organization and supplier/partner strategy for all Facebook server suppliers. This includes strategic direction applied to tools development, supplier performance management, vendor relationships, and business processes. This is a full-time position based at our headquarters in Palo Alto.

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Responsibilities

  • Manages up to ensure executives are informed of a partner performance/development/investment/escalation/negotiation approach

  • Manages a complex supplier, and fully understands the interdependencies and the impact to the business.

  • Responsible for the commercial relationship with the partner

  • Consults and partners with others, offers views and advice that add value and perspective to situations

  • Jointly responsible for supplier sourcing strategy, including risk mitigation

  • Responsible for partner based strategy – including industry understanding and driving competitive advantage for Facebook

  • Responsible for delivering a supplier’s productivity and overall cost performance

  • Responsible for benchmarking a supplier’s costs globally. Delivers and identifies a supplier’s pipeline productivity

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64-bit ARM chip coming?

ComputerWorld reports on a 64-bit ARM chip coming soon.

Arm readies processing cores for 64-bit computing

By Dan Nystedt

November 19, 2010 05:34 AM ET

IDG News Service - Arm Holdings will unveil new plans for processing cores that support 64-bit computing within the next few weeks, and has already shown samples at private viewings, sources close to the company said at an Arm technology conference in Taipei.

The company's move into 64-bit computing shows it's serious about putting out powerful processors to meet the needs of businesses and consumers. Most personal computers today are based on 32-bit computing, while supercomputers, servers and other bigger systems use 64-bit computing, which can address more memory.

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2 Dell DCS Customers, LBNL & Saudi Aramco

I was talking to a friend and he said whenever they talked to Dell they couldn’t find out much information about who Dell DCS’s customers were.  There are approximately 30 clients of DCS.  Part of their criteria is customers purchasing over 2,000 servers with the following characteristics.

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So, I spent a few hours researching who Dell DCS customers.  I came up with about 20 DCS customers.  I am not going to share the complete list on this blog, but I am sharing the list with a few others who can help me figure out who the others are.

Let me tell you how I found two of the DCS customers – Lawrence Berkeley National Labs & Saudi Aramco.

LBNL was easy as they have a bunch of Dell DCS Xanadu systems in Top 500 Supercomputer list.

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I blogged about Xanadu first generation.  Here is generation II.

Dell has launched new XS-23 II high-end x86 servers, codenamed Xanadu II in celebration of the IInd birthday of Data Center Solutions (DCS), a division producing servers aimed at easy customizability for cloud computing and other data center applications.

The XS-23 come with a choice of several different processors, including Intel Nehalem chip, although those machines will be offered in blade configurations with a built-in fabric architecture. It will be provided as four two-socket servers in a 2U standard rack mount footprint, accommodating up to 24 disk drives. According to Norrod, customers can configure up to 88 of Dell's new servers with 704 processing cores and 396 TB of storage, plus switching, in a single rack, for 25% higher density in comparison to similarly outfitted blade servers on a per-U basis.

When I was going through Dell DCS documents on their web site I found a reference to an Oil & Gas customer. 

The Data Center Solutions (DCS) team have an Oil & Gas customer that is always looking to push the envelope when it comes to getting the most out of GPGPU’s in order to deliver seismic mapping results faster.

On the Supercomputing 500 site going through Dell Hardware, I found Saudi Aramco with a bunch of HP and Dell Hardware.  5 systems all with 512 servers, dual processor, 4-6 core processors. 

The other 18 on the list are interesting to study.  It’s not that hard to find the Dell DCS customers

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Dell powers up its Cloud

I just started following Barton George’s blog as I found it an easy way to track Dell’s cloud and server innovation.

What I do, and have done, for a living

Last year I joined Dell as their cloud computing evangelist.  As such I act as Dell’s ambassador to the cloud computing community (I had to supply my own sash).  I also work with analysts and press and am responsible for messaging as well as blogging and tweeting (you can follow me on twitter at barton808 and you know where my blog is).

Prior to Dell I spent 13 years at Sun Microsystems in a variety of roles from manufacturing to product and corporate marketing.  My last three years there I spent as an Open Source evangelist, avid blogger, and driver of Sun’s GNU/Linux strategy and relationships.

Barton posts on Dell’s launch of its Cloud Solutions.

Dell Cloud Solutions up and running!

Back in March we announced Dell’s cloud solutions.  Today at a press conference in San Francisco we announced their general availability along with some examples of customers who are employing them. (Woohoo!)

What’s the big idea

The idea behind these offerings has been to leverage the experience we in the DCS group have gained over the last several years providing custom systems to some of the world’s largest cloud providers.  These new solutions are targeted at organizations the next tier down (the “next 1,000″) from the hyperscale customers we have been working with.

Here is the official Dell press release.

Dell Data Center Solutions Unit Momentum Builds; Helps Customers Easily Build And Deploy Cloud And Hyperscale Computing Infrastructures

Date : 11/19/2010

Round Rock, Texas

  • Uniserve , InsightExpress and Eightfold Logic are building out highly efficient and scalable data analytics and cloud computing infrastructures with help from Dell

  • Dell’s Data Center Solutions team is providing specialized cloud and data analytics solutions that are workload optimized and deliver a great return on investment by leveraging partnerships with Joyent, Aster Data andGreenplum

  • Dell’s new PowerEdge C series experiencing rapid market adoption to be the popular choice with customers looking for high-density compute performance with energy and cost efficiency

Dell today announced growing market adoption and interest in its Dell Cloud Solutions as customers across a variety of industries including market research and IT hosting services have chosen Dell Data Center Solutions (DCS) to build out their own cloud computing, data analytics and hyperscale data center installations. Supporting Dell’s broader Virtual Era strategy, these holistic cloud solutions are comprised of pre-tested, pre-assembled, fully-supported and optimized hardware, software and services. As a result, these customers have experienced a more responsive web infrastructure, deeper business insights and reduced overall operating costs.

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