New Intel, AMD Microprocessors Don't Deliver, Facebook Claims

Intel and Advanced Micro Devices, the world's leading vendors of computer processors, have recently introduced new server chips in their offering, promising increase in performance and energy efficiency. However, according to the head of technical operations at Facebook, the latest generation of server processors from both Intel and AMD can't deliver to their performance promises.

Jonathan Heiliger, Facebook's technical operations VP, recently sat down with GigaOM's Founder and Senior Write Om Malik, to talk about some of the details regarding the social network's infrastructure and the different technical aspects that concerned a website like Facebook. According to him, the company is constantly trying to upgrade its infrastructure, due to the increase in users and data, which is why power efficiency is one of its main concerns. Malik continued his interview with Heiliger asking him about some of the unexpected problems the company faced when trying to upgrade its infrastructure for the times ahead.

“The biggest thing that surprised us is ... less-than-anticipated performance gains from new microarchitectures – so, new CPUs from guys like Intel and AMD. The performance gains they're touting in the press, we're not seeing in our applications,” Heiliger said. “And we're, literally in real time right now, trying to figure out why that is. Otherwise, we are left with current generation technology.”

In addition, Heiliger also had some strong words for OEMs and system builders, saying that they needed to be more power- and cost-efficient. During his chat with Om, Heiliger added that, “You guys don't get it. To build servers for companies like Facebook and Amazon [...], the servers have to be cheap and they have to be super power-efficient.”

Facebook is currently one of the most successful websites in the world, having more than 200 million users worldwide to which they constantly provide new features. As with the company's recently launched “personalized usernames” feature, every new thing that needs to go live is extensively tested.