New ARM-Based Server From ZT Systems « Data Center Knowledge. Server vendor ZT Systems has announced a new server based on low-power processors from ARM, whose chips power many leading mobile devices. The new R1801e is a 1U rackmount server powered by up to 16 ARM Cortex-A9 processor cores. When fully populated with an array of components the server has an impressively low power draw of less than 80 watts. Interest in low-power processors has grown in recent years as data center operators struggle to manage rising power densities in their facilities, which often create cooling challenges and test the utility capacity. Much of the interest in ARM-based processors has focused on start-ups like Smooth-Stone ,which last week rebranded as Calxeda but has yet to launch a commercial product. ZT Systems says its new product “demonstrates that low power ARM processors are ready for evaluation and software development work.” It features the STMicroelectronics SPEAr 1310 microprocessor with dual ARM Cortex-A9 processor cores.
Very Low-Cost, Low-Power Servers. I’m interested in low-cost, low-power servers and have been watching the emerging market for these systems since 2008 when I wrote CEMS: Low-Cost, Low-Power Servers for Internet Scale Services (paper, talk). ZT Systems just announced the R1081e, a new ARM-based server with the following specs: · STMicroelectronics SPEAr 1310 with dual ARM® Cortex™-A9 cores · 1 GB of 1333MHz DDR3 ECC memory embedded · 1 GB of NAND Flash · Ethernet connectivity It’s a shared infrastructure design where each 1RU module has 8 of the above servers.
. · 8 “System on Modules“ (SOMs) · ZT-designed backplane for power and connectivity · One 80GB SSD per SOM · IPMI system management · Two Reatek 4+1 1Gb Ethernet switches on board with external uplinks · Standard 1U rack mount form factor · Ubuntu Server OS · 250W 80+ Bronze Power Supply Each module is under 80W so a rack with 40 compute modules would only draw 3.2kw for 320 low-power servers for a total of 740 cores/rack.
Other notes on low-cost, low-powered servers: Velocity 2010: James Hamilton, "Datacenter Infrastructure Innovation" AWS: Forget the Revenue, Did You See the Margins? Two days ago, two analysts from UBS – Brian Pitz and Brian Fitzgerald – projected Amazon Web Services revenues at $500 million. Many were disappointed, expecting more from the widely acknowledged market leader: a half a billion dollars is approximately what Microsoft spent per datacenter pre-2010. Those who would focus on the actual revenue figure, however, are likely to miss the more important margin numbers. It has been long assumed that cloud computing – at least as currently practiced by the lower value add Infrastructure-as-a-Service practitioners – is a low margin business by enterprise infrastructure standards.
Larger systems players such as HP and IBM have shown little appetite for the public cloud market in part because of this, depending on who you talk to. One senior executive I spoke with from a large systems vendor two years ago was blunt in his assessment of the prospects for a public cloud offering: “I don’t want to be in the hosting business.” James Hamilton.