AMD Opteron processor-based platform helps ATCA servers deliver improved network traffic

BANGALORE, INDIA: At the ATCA Summit today, AMD is demonstrating its latest advancements for helping improve the network performance capability of industry-standard Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture (ATCA) blade servers.

Quad-core AMD Opteron processors, at 50 and 71W TDP, provide a high-performance, low-power platform for the networking and telecommunications market. The new AMD server chipset featuring PCI Express 2.0 and HyperTransport 3 technology provides a complete solution with improved I/O capabilities to increase performance over previous-generation platforms.

The increased bandwidth offered by PCI Express 2.0 is useful in improving network data throughput when combined with an appropriate increase in the number of CPUs or CPU cores to help accurately route the additional traffic,” said Patrick Patla, vice president and general manager, Server and Embedded Business, AMD.

“The Quad-core AMD Opteron processor delivers this compute power and with 50W and 71W versions available, is a great option for the 200W power budget of the ATCA specification.”

“Our research shows the market for ATCA applications remains quite strong, despite the downturn. This is in part due to the industry’s shift from proprietary designs to interoperable standards and commercial off the shelf building blocks,” said Erik Heikkila, Director, Embedded Hardware and Systems, VDC Research.

“Improvements to AMD’s blade platform are a great example of this building block concept. Customers who have implemented a previous AMD Opteron processor-based ATCA system now have the option to further extend their design with an easy upgrade.”

“With the new AMD embedded platform, we are able to deliver superior performance on high-bandwidth networks and still maintain the strict overall system power limit of the ATCA specification,” said Patrick Welzien, vice president, Engineering, Diversified Technology Inc.

“Our newest blade, the ATC6239, features two 45nm Quad-core AMD Opteron processors and by relying on this scalable COTS platform, we’ve been able to extend the life of the system and recognize cost efficiencies.”