ARM camp to challenge Intel

The words "integrated system, integrated reference architecture, and micro-server" are increasingly appearing in commercial environments. With the new technology trends such as mobile computing, cloud computing, and big data applications, a diverse and complex application load environment is symbiotic. Mark Potter, senior vice president of Hewlett-Packard Co. and general manager of industry standard server and software products group of enterprise group, believes that in the highly connected, multi-terminal access IT ecosystem, the rapid expansion of rack equipment is one of the challenges facing the data center. At the same time, the more complex and hybrid application load environment also means that traditional general architectures in computing platforms will not be able to meet diverse application requirements. How to provide the right computing power for specific workloads at the right time? This issue is clearly the core driver of computing platform innovation.

Demand and efficiency double drive

At present, a consensus reached in the industry is that low power consumption and high energy efficiency are increasingly becoming an important development direction in the evolution of infrastructure platforms. Due to the distributed and hardware hot-plugging nature of part of the workloads in hyperscale data centers, the application of micro-servers will become a trend.

In terms of the application environment of the data center, not all workloads require a large amount of computing or memory resources. Some workloads require more high I/O, requiring the system to have high-efficiency mass processing capabilities. Different from traditional servers, micro-servers with low-power processor as the core adopt multi-node and high-density design ideas in product structure, and are applications oriented to Web applications, distributed storage and processing, and offline data analysis. Optimized design of the server. With a streamlined design that eliminates a lot of unnecessary advanced features, the microserver can easily handle lightweight workloads. Compared to many high-level dedicated servers, it is better suited to conventional applications. With public cloud services increasingly becoming an important IT delivery tool, the demand for microservers will also grow. Especially in the application scenario of handling lightweight cloud service workloads, the micro server will be able to play a greater role.

An important feature and design of the microserver is that it does not waste extra computing power. Generally speaking, the micro-server TDP thermal design power consumption is generally between 10W and 45W. Lower energy consumption means lower operating costs and higher unit-dollar workload efficiency. As we all know, in the operating costs of the entire data center, the energy cost of the server occupies a considerable proportion. Therefore, the high-density and low-power design of the microserver in the unit rack space can greatly improve the energy efficiency of the data center and save more space.

Market is not "micro"

As an emerging server segmentation market, micro-servers do not have a complete and unified definition in the industry. In general, a microserver is a general-purpose server that often provides single or multiple microprocessors on a single motherboard, and consumes less than 45W of power.

Micro-servers often share power, cooling, and cables with other devices, enabling ultra-high-density computing in micro-server clusters. IDC analyst Reuben Miller said: "The micro-server category is difficult to define. The main feature of the micro-server is to aggregate a large number of processors, in the high-density computing environment can be extended as needed, and has a very low power consumption, and does not require Too much storage."

According to a report from IHS iSuppli, thanks to the continuous growth of new data center services brought by mobile computing and cloud computing, micro server shipments will triple in volume. Peter Lin, a senior analyst at IHS's computing platform, estimates that in 2013 micro-server shipments will reach 291,000 units, an increase of 230% from 2012's 88,000 units, while in 2011 micro-server shipments were only 1.9. Million. By the end of 2016, this number is expected to grow to 1.2 million units. In terms of the overall server market, micro-servers accounted for only 0.2% of the overall market share in 2011, but it is expected that by 2016, micro-servers will account for 10% of the overall server market, achieving 50-fold growth. In addition, from 2011 to 2016, the annual growth rate of the micro-server is 130%, which is much higher than the overall server market growth rate of 26%. During this period, annual shipments of micro-servers will achieve nearly three-fold growth.

According to IDC's forecast, the global micro-server sales will account for 15% of the total server volume in the next three years. Wang Cong, general manager and chief analyst of Zhongqiao International Research Consulting Co., Ltd., stated: “Open source and cloud computing will provide a space for rapid growth of micro-servers. Micro-servers will have a wide range of applications in e-commerce, cloud service providers and the Internet. Prospects and opportunities, but still face great challenges in traditional enterprise-class data center applications.Given different from traditional server sales, service models, and quantity calculation methods, the overall market share of micro-servers will grow to 20% in the next 5 years. ."

Will the traditional pattern be subverted?

With the clock reverting back to 2009, Intel pioneered the concept of microservers in the industry. Today, from the Xeon platform to the first 64-bit system-on-chip (SoC) for servers, the Atom processor S1200 series, Intel continues to push the performance-to-power ratio of its entire line of processor chips to new heights. Forrester analyst Richard Fichera said that in the second half of 2013, the launch of the "Avoton" second-generation Atom processor based on the 22nm process technology and the new microarchitecture "Silvermont" will inject a powerful boost to the micro-server market. On the other hand, the ever-accelerating commercial process of ARM processors will also provide the market and users with more energy-efficient solution options.

ARM camp to challenge Intel

During the 2013 Intel Information Technology Summit, Bernard, Senior Vice President, Data Center and Interconnect Systems Division of Intel Corporation once told the media that systems such as rack servers, blade servers, or microservers must be completely updated in order to maximize Use the performance of various subsystems such as processors, memory, storage, and networking. Intel is working with companies such as Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent, and China Telecom to test deployment and implement its integrated cabinet architecture. Based on the needs of cloud service providers and very large-scale data centers, Intel is developing reference designs that help many OEMs develop and deliver relevant enclosure solutions. From the layout of Intel, it is easy to see that the integration of the basic platform and integrated reference design shows the idea of ​​a top-level design, and the efficient transformation of the data center must be a systematic project.

Although occupying more than 90% of the server market, Intel is facing strong challenges from the ARM camp in the micro-server space. This competitive landscape became even fiercer after AMD announced plans to develop processors based on the ARMv8 architecture. On the one hand, ARM's unique licensing approach has enabled ARM chip vendors to deploy the market more quickly. On the other hand, ARM servers have unique advantages in terms of performance per unit watt, cost, and volume. "The processor core is no longer the only focus in the server market, but more importantly, the IP (integrated intellectual property) that semiconductor manufacturers integrate with the processor core." Said Shao Wei, Manager of ARM Enterprise Application Marketing. Obviously, ARM looks at the broad participation of the entire ecosystem under the next-generation architecture. Wu Xiong, president of ARM China, told reporters that in the development process of ARMv8 architecture, ARM can locate different segments of the 64-bit computing platform through the market. ARM's unique business model means that it can get feedback from different types of customers when developing a new generation of architectures or products.

According to HIS's forecast, if the micro-server is removed from the entire server market, the entire server industry will grow at half the speed. It can be seen that the focus of the entire server industry is increasingly tilting toward the basic platform for specific tasks and applications, and more energy-efficient and cost-effective machines will appear in the market.

The competitive landscape is confusing

Intel, AMD/SeaMicro and ARM server chip makers Calxeda, Applied Micro, Cavium, Samsung, etc., may all benefit from micro-servers as Intel tries to hold its position with Atom and low-power Xeon chips. Application boom. Among the partners announced by ARM based on its 64-bit ARMv8 architecture Cortex-A50 product family, AMD is undoubtedly the most eye-catching one. Pursuing higher energy efficiency performance in intensive and massively parallel computing environments is an important reason why AMD chose the ARM architecture to develop data center-level processors.

John Williams, AMD’s global vice president, believes that the server market is currently at a turning point and has a wide tolerance for innovation. This brings opportunities for differentiated solutions in the industry. "The x86+ARM+APU line will provide a seamless computing solution through a diversified chip architecture, which means that users can match their workloads with service architectures that best suit their needs," said John Williams. " Whether ARM or x86 cores are used within a CPU or APU architecture depends on the nature of the work, because the future of the data center depends on processor solutions optimized for critical workloads.Emerging demand for differentiated solutions such as ARM-based servers This is clearly reflected in the fact that ARM and APU high density server solutions complement our existing x86 architecture solution and roadmap."

It can be seen that differentiation is the killer for ARM to enter the enterprise computing market. Integrating ARM and x86 into future enterprise-class workloads is even more ambitious. However, ahead of the full commercialization of the ARMv8 architecture, Intel has further refined and refined its low-power product line. From the point of view of the product line, its 22nm process technology also leads the competition. When HP, Dell, and other vendors launched ARM-based server test projects, Intel could not avoid being asked on various media occasions that "ARM-based servers and micro-servers based on low-power processors have eroded its Xeon server chip business. How likely is the problem? Apparently, the Atom S1200 processor, the "Avoton" second-generation Atom processor, and the HP-released Atom processor-based Moonshot server were the response of Intel and x86 camps.