Gigabyte Technology : Releases Its First ARM Server Solutions

2015/03/24

Built around the AppliedMicro X-Gene's ARMv8-A architecture, offering up to 128GB of highly accessible on-board memory, and featuring a dual 10GbE SFP+ LANinterface, the MP30-AR0 platform is intended for deployment as a general purpose server for memory-intensive workloads such as in-memory databases, storage, and content distribution networks.

Fully compliant with ARM Server Base System Architecture (SBSA) and Server Base Root Requirements (SBBR) standards, the MP30-AR0 server board represents an optimized application solution for cloud and scale-out computing, supported by a robust network of over 1,000 open source software developers.

AppliedMicro's X-Gene processor, which became commercially available in 2014, is the industry's first enterprise-hardened, ARM 64-bit Server on a Chip solution. Designed for cloud, enterprise-server and HPC applications, X-Gene's distinguishing features include multiple high performance processors running at up to 2.4GHz along with robust, high-speed memory and I/O.

The D120-S3G system is designed as an add-on storage expansion of existing server infrastructures and can support up to 100TB of raw capacity within a 1U rackmount, which makes it one of the highest density and lowest cost per TB storage systems available. It connects to a network over a dual 10GbE SFP+ interface and to its drives via SATA III 6Gb/s ports, in order to provide appropriate bandwidth and transfer rates for applications such as cold storage, data archiving, video surveillance, and TV broadcast among others.

Annapurna Labs Alpine AL5140 Processor
The D120-S3G is powered by the Annapurna Labs Alpine AL5140 1.7GHz Quad-Core processor, based on the ARMv7 architecture and the Cortex-A15 core. This chip has a power consumption of only 10 watts, which provides one of the highest performance per watt storage controller.

Built-in Hardware Data Protection
Equipped with a dedicated hardware RAID and Erasure Code engine supporting RAID 5/6 levels protection, it forwards error correction from drive failures and thus spares CPU cycles from doing parity calculations or interfacing with the hard drives.

An Optimized Solution Designed for Linux Environment
Using standard ARM Cortex-A15 cores ensures the compatibility with available software. The D120-S3G offers support for standard, Long Term Support (LTS) Linux Kernel 3.10 and Ubuntu 14.04. With over 1,000 Open Source software developing applications on ARM, the application ecosystem is mature and is able to support a wide range of applications for the enterprise.