AMD Takes Up ARM

Chipmaker rolls out a new low-power-usage processor series for the growing ARM server market.

AMD has announced the arrival of a new ARM-based CPU and development platform. The Opteron A1100 series comes with 4- or 8-core ARM Cortex A57 processors. AMD calls the new model "the first ARM-based CPU and development platform from a server processor vendor." AMD announced the new processor, which is codenamed "Seattle," at the Open Compute Summit in San Jose, and the company also said it would be contributing a new micro-server design using the AMD Opteron A-series as part of the Open Compute Project's "Group Hug" common slot architecture for motherboards.
AMD's arrival in the ARM processor market adds a new dimension to the evolution of ARM, from an architecture for small embedded systems and mobile phones to an industrial strength solution suitable for the server room. ARM's reputation for low power usage makes it especially viable in today's HPC and data center environment, in which the total power usage or power efficiency is often a deciding factor in the design.
According to OCP chairman and president Frank Frankovsky "Predefined, one-size-fits-all server platforms are giving way to customized solutions that deliver high performance at the lowest power consumption. AMD's contribution to the Open Compute Project expands a growing portfolio of OCP designs that enable utilization and efficiency gains in data center operations."