I spent much of my time around the launch of the AMD Opteron^TM 6200 Series processor working with the HPC-related ecosystem. This was an exciting time for the AMD Opteron processor with a strong showing in the TOP500 and our hardware partners like Cray, SGI, Appro and Penguin posting support of our new technology.

Now that it is December I am jumping back into the world of Virtualization and Cloud Computing. What better way to do this than to take a look at the AMD Opteron 6200 Series processor (formally coded named “Interlagos”) along with VMware software.

In support of the launch of our new processors, HP posted a VMmark® benchmark for the HP ProLiant BL685c G7 Server Blade running AMD Opteron processors Model 6276. According to HP this benchmark has earned the #1 blade and #1 two-node AMD Opteron™ processor-based result.

While raw performance benchmark results are interesting, virtualization users want to know the price/performance metrics of a system. Let’s do a price/performance comparison of the two HP ProLiant G7 full height, single-side server blades with posted VMware scores.

The following chart provides configuration and pricing information for the two HP blade systems. All configuration information is taken from VMmark disclosure documents with system pricing information coming directly from HP’s on-line configurator as of Dec. 5, 2011.The number of virtual machines (VMs) is obtained by multiplying the number of tiles in the score by 8 since each tile in a VMmark 2.1 benchmark is composed of 8 VMs.

As you can see the BL685c G7 with AMD Opteron processors Model 6276 not only delivered a higher score than the competition, it achieves greater VM density for the benchmark configuration and delivers VMs at ½ the price.

Whenever you talk about VMware software the topic of software licensing comes up. This is because with vSphere 4 VMware began to license by processor with limitations on the number of cores per processor for certain editions. Because AMD Opteron processors had more cores, there was a perceived licensing disadvantage.

VMware has worked closely with AMD in support for the new “Bulldozer” core technology that is at the heart of our AMD Opteron 6200 and 4200 Series processors. This is reflected in a licensing change with vSphere 4.1u2, which was released on Nov. 18, 2011. In this version a “Bulldozer” module (compute unit) will count as the licensing core unit as opposed to the individual core. Here is a chart that reflects how currently shipping AMD and Intel processors will be treated for licensing by vSphere 4.1u2.

Don’t forget that vSphere 5.0, which was released August, has moved away entirely from processor-and core based licensing to license by vRAM (virtual RAM).This change is VMware’s way of evolving its product’s licensing model to give their customers the opportunity to move to a more cloud-like, “pay for consumption” approach to IT.

Check out the blog written by Richard A. Brunner, Chief Platform Architect, Office of the CTO: “Day 0″ support of the upcoming AMD “Interlagos” Processor in VMware vSphere.”

In terms of VMware and the AMD Opteron 6200 Series processor – we have some solid price and price/performance proof points along with excellent support by VMware in terms of feature set and licensing.

VMware® VMmark® is a product of VMware, Inc.

Margaret Lewis is Director of Software Product Marketing at AMD. Her postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites, and references to third party trademarks, are provided for convenience and illustrative purposes only. Unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such links, and no third party endorsement of AMD or any of its products is implied. Follow her on Twitter @margaretjlewis