AMD Launches New Platform for Dedicated Web Hosting Providers

New AMD Opteronâ„¢ 3200 Series Processor Family Changes Industry Economics for Single-Socket, Dedicated Hosting and Cloud customers

SUNNYVALE, Calif. -3/20/2012

AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced the latest solution as part of its ongoing Web/Cloud initiative with the launch of the new AMD Opteronâ„¢ 3200 Series processor. Dedicated Web hosting customers seeking enterprise-class reliability have a new choice that delivers:
• Great value with up to 38% better price performance1 and up to 19% less power per core2 than the competition;
• ECC memory and server reliability features at a low price-point;
• Fast hardware payback – In as few as 7 months hosting fees can cover hardware costs – up to 14% quicker than with the competition3;
• Efficient economics for the Cloud with twice the core density per rack4.

“In today’s economic environment, dedicated hosting providers need their data centers to become profit centers faster than ever,” said Patrick Patla, corporate vice president and general manager, Commercial Business, AMD. “With the new AMD Opteronâ„¢ 3000 Series platform, Web and Cloud customers no longer have to compromise with desktop-class platforms in order to hit certain price points. Now they have all the benefits of a true server-class product at desktop-class price points. This helps rapidly-growing hosting customers achieve fast payback in their incredibly dense, power-efficient environments.”

Since the launch of its new core server architecture, and AMD Opteron 4200 and 6200 Series processors last November, AMD unveiled a disruptive server strategy and intentions to leverage its leading graphics IP while driving down the power in future SoC offerings. As part of accelerating this, AMD recently announced it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Cloud pioneer SeaMicro.

Today AMD has delivered on its promise of a low-power, single-socket solution that brings server functionality with desktop economics. The AMD Opteron 3000 Series platform is targeted to the dense, power efficient 1P Web hosting/Web server market. Available in either 4- or 8-core CPUs, the AMD Opteron 3200 Series processor is shipping today in platforms from MSI, Tyan, Fujitsu and Dell. Based on the “Bulldozer” core, the AMD Opteron 3000 Series platform leverages Socket AM3+ and provides customers with the cost savings associated with a “desktop-like” infrastructure, yet still offers server-class reliability, enterprise-class silicon validation/testing, security features and server OS certification.

“AMD is a great partner, and we’re excited about the new AMD Opteron 3200 Series CPU. It allows us to create a custom design for our DCS customers, and deliver a compelling combination of performance and energy efficiency, ” says Dell Data Center Solutions’ Steve Cumings. “As the leader in the Density-Optimized market segment, we require focused partner technology within industry standards – and this is a good fit for our customers.”

Key Facts, Performance and Technical Detail

• 45W to 65W TDP
• 2.7 GHz base frequency, up to 3.7 GHz frequency using AMD Turbo CORE technology5
• 4- and 8-core options
• 2 DDR3 memory channels supporting ECC UDIMM
• 1333, 1600, 1866 MHz memory speed6
• Supports 1.5V, 2Rank
• Up to 32GB memory capacity
• Supports up to 2 DIMMs per memory channel
• Total Cache: 16MB for 8-core, 8MB for 4-core
• L2 Cache: up to 8MB total
• L3 Cache: up to 8MB total

“We built the world’s first production petaflops system with the Cray XT5 supercomputer, reinvented high performance networking with the Gemini interconnect, and we are now redefining accelerator-based supercomputing with the unified GPU and scalar technologies built into the Cray XK6 system,” said Barry Bolding, vice president of Cray’s product division.

A powerful addition to Cray’s line of highly-advanced supercomputers, the Cray XK6 system pairs AMD’s next-generation Opteron processors with up to 16 cores code-named Interlagos powered by the Bulldozer micro-architecture (up to 96 per cabinet) and Nvidia Tesla X2090-series compute cards (up to 96 per cabinet) to create a true hybrid supercomputer with intra-node flexibility. By combining AMD Opteron processors with Nvidia GPUs, the compute node in the Cray XK6 system gives users the option to run applications with either scalar or accelerator components with up to 70TFLOPS of compute performance per cabinet. The Cray XK6 compute blades can also be blended with Cray XE6 compute blades into a single, multi-purpose supercomputing system.

Upgradeable from Cray XT4, Cray XT5, Cray XT6 or Cray XE6 systems, the Cray XK6 system is expected to be available in the second half of 2011. It can be configured in a single cabinet with tens of compute nodes, to a multi-cabinet system with tens of thousands of compute nodes.

The Cray XK6 system introduces an new approach to increasing programmer productivity with a unified x86/GPU programming environment that includes tested and powerful tools, libraries, compilers and third-party software. When combined with the Cray Linux Environment, the result is a fully integrated Cray supercomputer that blends scalable hardware, software and a network. Cray XK6 customers will be able to utilize the capabilities of a multi-purpose supercomputer designed for the next-generation of many-core, high performance computing (HPC) applications.

“Every aspect of the Cray XK6 has been engineered to meet the real-world performance demands of researchers and scientists tasked with solving the world’s grand challenges. [...] We are leveraging our expertise to create a scalable hybrid supercomputer – and the associated first-generation of a unified x86/GPU programming environment – that will allow the system to more productively meet the scientific challenges of today and tomorrow,” added Mr. Bolding.

The Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS) in Manno, Switzerland is Cray’s first customer for the new Cray XK6 system. CSCS, which develops and promotes technical and scientific services for the Swiss research community in the field of HPC, signed a contract with Cray to upgrade its Cray XE6m system, nicknamed “Piz Palu,” to a multi-cabinet Cray XK6 supercomputer.

“GPUs are playing an increasingly important role in high performance computing as researchers and scientists look to augment the CPU performance on certain codes. Cray is a leader in the high-end of the supercomputing market and has designed, built and installed some of the world’s most powerful systems. The company has decades of experience in successfully integrating hybrid processor types into large scale systems. This strategy of hybrid supercomputing is extremely valuable, and Cray is in a good position to take advantage of it,” said Earl Joseph, IDC program vice president for HPC.