14 DAY TRIAL // No longer content with just the consumer processor and graphics card markets, Advanced Micro Devices has been working hard on a technology that will secure it a section of the server industry.
The company has introduced the Open 3.0 premium server architecture, which simplified motherboard design for servers with a single base product.
Multiple enterprise workloads can be run on it, from cloud infrastructure and storage to high-performance computing and virtual desktop infrastructure.
Over-provisioned and traditional servers usually have lots of features that go unused but add to the cost and energy consumption.
The AMD Open 3.0 specification supposedly cuts down on all that, bringing TCO (total cost of ownership) from $10,669 / €8,220 to $4,589 / €3,535.
That's a reduction of 57%, which is no mean feat, while supporting just as many virtual desktops, as shown in benchmarks.
“Global IT organizations have the difficult task of choosing between price and performance when investing in servers,” said Bob Ogrey, cloud evangelist and fellow, AMD.
“We don’t believe organizations have to compromise one for the other. Using systems based on the AMD Open 3.0 specification – the first open source, modular platform for the masses – enables high performance and energy efficiency at a reasonable price, making it the best choice for organizations.”
Advanced Micro Devices will discuss the Open 3.0 specification at a roundtable event in New York and other cities.
In the meantime, more information can be found at the Open Compute Project Foundation website and the dedicated micro-site found here. For a direct link to the specification itself, go here instead. Pretty dry reading for anyone not enthusiastic about such things.
Avnet Inc., Hyve, Penguin Computing and ZT Systems are some of AMD's partners that have been on board since May 2012, when they started putting together the first range of systems, some of which are now in full production.