Supermicro targets cloud-native workloads with new Arm-based Mt. Hamilton servers

INFRA

Super Micro Computer Inc. today announced an expanded lineup of Arm-based servers powered by Ampere Computing LLC’s latest Altra and Ampere Altra Max processors.

The new Mt. Hamilton servers announced today are the latest addition to Supermicro’s MegaDC server family. They leverage a single, unified motherboard design that makes them ideal for a range of cloud-native applications. They’re aimed at cloud gaming, video-on-demand, content delivery networks, infrastructure-as-a-service, database, object storage, dense virtual desktop infrastructure and telecommunications edge workloads, the company said.

Ampere’s Arm-based Altra CPUs first appeared in 2020. Designed for use in cloud data centers and network edge environments, the Altra CPUs are built using a seven-nanometer architecture that’s based on a 64-bit Arm Ltd. design. The architecture allows Ampere to place up to 128 cores on a single chip, the most of any CPU that’s currently available on the market today.

Supermicro explained that the MegaDC Arm-based servers sport a “Building Block design” that sees a single-socket motherboard paired with either an Ampere Altra or Ampere Altra Max central processing unit with up to 128 cores per server. They also boast up to 4 terabytes of Double Data Rate 4 Synchronous Dynamic Random-Access Memory, and a modular design that supports multiple options for Input/Output, Peripheral Component Interconnect Express and storage. It’s a setup that the company claims will deliver extremely high performance per watt, making the servers ideal for executing scalable workloads that require very low-latency response.

“Supermicro continues to bolster our product line by introducing ARM-based servers, using the Ampere Altra and Altra Max CPUs,” said Senior Vice President of Product Management Ivan Tay. “Expanding our already broad server product line gives customers even more choices for their specific workloads.”

Customers will be able to choose from a range of servers equipped with either a single Ampere Altra or Altra Max CPU, with a choice of 1U or 2U form factors, with up to four double-width graphics processing units, or alternatively up to 24x 2.5-inch U.2 NVMe hot-swappable drives. Each of the systems comes with onboard redundant 25GbE SFP28 Ethernet networking using NVIDIA Mellanox CX4. They also boast an internal air cooling system that enables them to operate at ambient temperatures of up to 35°C (95°F) for Enterprise applications, and 55°C (131°F) for Edge applications, the company said.

“Mt. Hamilton brings Ampere’s dense, efficient commute to a broad set of user cases from the central cloud to the distributed edge,” said Ampere Chief Product Officer Jess Wittich. “Leveraging Ampere’s cloud-native processors, Mt. Hamilton enables two to three times more performance per rack on common cloud-native workloads, helping customers better meet the scalability demands of the cloud now and in the future.”

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