Posts tagged with Green IT
Playing 20 Questions (Part 2)
Posted by John Fruehe in 12:18 pm
(30 votes, average: 4.93 out of 5)
Loading ...Last week, I kicked off the first round of “20 Questions” by answering questions around our upcoming server platforms. This week I’ll focus on questions I’ve received related to virtualization and cloud computing.
When AMD pushed further into “Cloud\VM” computing there was talk of enabling GPUs as APUs in “future” sockets. Where is that initiative and where is it going?
Accelerated Processing Units (APUs) are essential to AMD’s product strategy and roadmaps. We still continue to see the potential for GPGPUs handling certain types of server workloads. However, this technology faces some challenges before becoming “the next big thing” for cloud clusters. The first is the programming model. One way we plan to address this is through the work that our ATI Stream team is doing around OpenCL, (ATI Stream technology is key in merging the GPU and CPU to form an APU)a framework for writing applications that execute across heterogeneous platforms consisting of modern multi-core CPUs, GPUs, and other processors
The second challenge is the power and cooling aspect of the solution. Customers are moving towards lower power solutions, especially in cloud, and CPUs are now approaching levels of performance/watt that still make them the leading choice for mainstream applications. The final area is the prioritization aspect. GPGPU is an emerging technology for servers. Integration into client processors has a much greater benefit for both customers and AMD so you will see much more emphasis on client integration first.
How will AMD address Green Computing?
We plan to continue to deliver low power processors, such as our HE and EE power bands. A new planned platform definition for Socket F, codenamed “Kroner” is focused as a “best practice for power management and design.” We expect to see a future “Kroner” follow-on platform that continues that thread. The C32 processors are really targeted at customers who want power efficiency, but we also plan low power options for the G34 processors as well. We are also planning enhancement to our AMD-P feature set with new technologies that are expected to help increase the power efficiency at the processor level, the platform level, and even at the data center level.
AMD has several initiatives targeting “cloud computing” and virtualization. Doesn’t this reduce the market for AMD products, since customers would buy only one server where they would have bought several?
Back when we are all in a single core world, everyone expected that dual-core would reduce the number of servers. It didn’t happen. Neither did the transition to quad-core. As virtualization and cloud computing help make IT more efficient, this can free up dollars for more investment in other areas. In any IT shop you’re likely to find that for every project that they are working on, there are dozens of other that they can’t fit into their budget. Add to this fact that world Internet usage is probably less than 25% today. As use of the Internet as a vehicle to deliver applications, data, and services continues to increase throughout the world, there is an obvious continued need for servers to power web and cloud clusters.
While AMD has made progress in the area of energy efficiency (e.g. AMD OpteronTM EE processors, Cool’n'QuietTM technology), does AMD feel there is more room for improvement in this area?
There is always room for more improvement. Power efficiency will continue to be an important focus for us.
John Fruehe is the Director of Business Development for Server/Workstation products at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.
It’s in the Genes
Posted by John Fruehe in 10:45 pm
This week AMD launched the new AMD Opteron™ EE processor, ushering in a new level of power efficiency.
Have you ever seen one of those movies where the heroes realize that they don’t have enough fuel to make it to their destination? In the mad panic they start throwing everything out of the vehicle to try to lighten up the load so they can get better fuel efficiency and hopefully make it to the finish line.
Yes, some people actually approach processor design that way. They build a big, fat die, and then as an afterthought, to get any efficient processor, they “dumb down” the design. Strip out features. Restrict the performance. Reduce the capabilities.
We don’t do this.
The new AMD Opteron EE processors have all the features and capabilities of our other processors. As a matter of fact, if you were to run the same benchmark on the 2.3GHz standard power, 2.3GHz HE and 2.3GHz EE, they will all perform exactly the same; except at the wall.
The HE will draw less power that the standard and the EE will draw even less than the HE.
How do we drive such low energy consumption without compromising features? It’s in the genes. A great silicon design, combined with a very well-behaved 45nm process allows us to yield enough ultra-efficient EE parts that we can build a business on it.
If you are counting the watts in your data center, here are 2 numbers to keep in mind: 185 and 115. In testing at AMD, a 2P server platform with EE processors idled at an amazing 115 watts of power. And at full 100% load, it only hit 185 watts. So if you were building a 42U rack with 42 of these 1U servers, your total power budget would be under 8KW. Typically the customers I talk to these days are worried about 10-12KW loads per rack in their data center, and often they aren’t loaded floor to ceiling with servers because they max out their power load. These new processors change the game – dramatically.
So where will you see these processors? Take a look up into the clouds.
Typically 2P 2U servers, the “bread and butter” of the data center, use the high performance SE and standard power bands. Dense 1U rack servers take advantage of the low power HE processors. And ultra-dense environments, like cloud computing and web hosting, tend to have multiple system boards in a single chassis, so the extremely efficient EE processor is a good match. These environments often have custom systems engineered rather than buying “off the shelf” systems, so you’ll see EE processors more in these custom designs than in stock configurations.
The genes of the Shanghai processor – highly optimized for energy efficiency, as well as outstanding performance – and careful nurturing in a state of the art 45nm fab, combine to give AMD a significant advantage when delivering low power performance to the data center.
So don’t look for what isn’t in there to figure out how we are driving such an efficient design, look at what IS in there, a pedigree with a long history of efficient design. And nothing taken out; no compromises, the way it should be.
John Fruehe is the Director of Business Development for Server/Workstation products at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.
Quad-Core AMD Opteron EE Processor Press Kit
Posted by Jake Whitman in 10:44 pm
Introducing the Quad-Core AMD OpteronTM EE processor
On the 6th anniversary of the AMD OpteronTM processor, AMD announces its most energy efficient server processor to date-the Quad-Core AMD OpteronTM EE processor.
With innovative energy saving features in a low power band, the Quad-Core AMD Opteron EE processor utilizes the same performance features seen in higher power band AMD Opteron processors, delivering the performance-per-watt necessary for cloud computing and other power constrained IT environments.
Download the Press Presentation
Check out Quad-Core AMD Opteron Processor Images
Blogs
Read Brent Kerby’s Take on ACP and Cloud Computing at the AMD @Work Blog
John Fruehe Discusses the Features of Shanghai EE on the @Work Blog
Sacrifice Nothing
Posted by John Fruehe in 5:30 pm
With today’s focus on "green IT" and energy efficiency, it’s no wonder that the interest in low power processors continues to grow. Even when AMD (and a handful of very insightful customers) could see that low power computing was the future, we couldn’t anticipate how rapidly cloud computing, "twin servers" (2 motherboards in a single chassis), and small form factor servers and blades would become top of mind for many IT managers. These innovations, combined with the strong role of virtualization in the data center, are all telltale signs that the world is going to continue demanding more efficient solutions.
And the economy today? Do you really believe that any IT director wants to stand in front of the CEO and explain why they are not taking the steps to reduce power consumption in the data center? Even small and medium businesses are affected by the rising costs of energy and with the increasing sense of shared global responsibility for conserving energy, it is becoming a key performance initiative for many IT Managers.
When we introduced the 45nm Quad-Core AMD Opteron™ processor (codenamed "Shanghai") last November, customers were excited to find that in many cases, those standard power processors could actually consume less power than the existing low power Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors. What could be better than that? How about even lower power? Or even greater performance? Today, we’ve announced two new "Shanghai" processor categories: the AMD Opteron™ HE processors – designed for energy efficiency and the AMD Opteron SE processors – designed for the highest raw computing environments.
Energy efficiency is something that we work to design into all of our processors. We are even bringing a new feature to the market called AMD PowerCap manager that will allow IT datacenter managers to set predefined maximum limits for the processor’s clock speed and voltage, allowing a flexible solution for holding down energy costs. Because many workloads tend to be spiky in nature, the need to run at the highest clock speed is often only for a cycle or two. Power capping helps smooth out the peaks and can help maintain a better overall average power. In fact, AMD PowerCap manager can reduce server processor power consumption by up to 63%. And our AMD CoolCore™ technology, which lets you turn off unused parts of the processor, is now extended to include L3 cache.
Power efficiency has to be accompanied by performance. Our new processors today offer the potential to both consume less power and deliver better application performance. But what does "better performance" really mean? When the focus is on energy efficiency, better performance means helping you recognize a savings while your apps operate the same or better. How does this translate for businesses?
Take a look at the progression of energy efficiency in quad-core processors, and you can easily see that between our 65nm "Barcelona" processors and our new 45nm "Shanghai" processors, the overall power consumption, at both load and idle, had been steadily moving downward. Now compare that with the cost of power and you can see that as costs of power continue to rise, the AMD Opteron processors can be your best hedge against increasing costs in the data center.
If you’re asking yourself what do these comparisons really mean, consider this simple statement: using the exact same platform, an upgrade from the highest performing low-power "Barcelona" processor to the 2.3 GHz "Shanghai" HE processor can deliver up to 44% better performance to power ratio. That’s pretty significant. To reiterate, it’s not just the power savings, its power savings combined with performance that delivers a compelling business solution.
Then it’s quite clear that our advancements today can help IT managers in their quest for increasing computational muscle, while decreasing costs.
I encourage you to also take a look at what our OEM customers are saying. Rackable Systems has blogged about the new processors and Dell makes a guest appearance at our AMD at Work blog. Also, check out a new video detailing the benefits of the "Shanghai" HE processor and how it address the challenges of the datacenter.
AMD’s philosophy of giving you the power of choice comes through loud and clear in these latest product offerings. Whether you need a balanced, energy efficient processor that helps ensure you are optimizing your energy consumption without sacrificing performance or your performance hungry application demands every edge available, AMD Opteron processors give you the choice. The best part is this is all done within the same infrastructure – each processor works on the same platform – ensuring your biggest task is not being an inventory manager for the myriad combinations needed to support your data center, but concentrating on what really matters, satisfying your customers.
John Fruehe is the Director of Business Development for Server/Workstation products at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.
Conspicuous Consumption is Out of Style
Posted by Guest Blogger in 4:24 pm
Even before the black clouds of recession began hanging over all our heads, cost effective IT productivity has been in vogue. Doing more with less is the name of the game in the data center. Dell’s Energy Smart platforms aim to do just that by optimizing both IT productivity (or IT performance) and energy consumption (or OpEx). Dell engineers work at this with the same fervor you would expect from a Toyota Prius engineer. We’ve made significant improvements in the system-level efficiency including the development of high-efficiency power supplies, enhanced airflow and fine tuned the dynamic resource management within the server.
At the data center level, it is clear that addressing the energy efficiency of the IT equipment is a critical first step, but it’s not the whole solution. Our focus continues to be an inside-out approach to achieving a sustainable balance between performance and consumption. Combining Energy Smart technologies with the practice of purging unused or underutilized equipment, increasing server utilization through deploying virtualization and adopting intelligent policies and practices will ultimately go a long way in achieving the right balance. The “Greenest” data center is not the one that most efficiently delivers power to the IT equipment, but, instead, the one that manages to make the best use of the IT equipment it has commissioned.
Dell’s collaboration with AMD works so well because we share a focus on striking the right balance between performance and energy consumption. During the last couple of years, our combined efforts have pushed the envelope in responding to ever increasing demands for greater performance while actually lowering the power consumed. For example, the Dell PowerEdge Energy Smart 2970 with the Quad-Core AMD Opteron™ HE processor delivers great performance per watt. Conspicuous energy consumption is definitely out of fashion. AMD and Dell have got you covered.
Daniel Bounds is Senior Manager of Power and Cooling Solutions for Dell. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.