Hewlett-Packard has committed to Advanced Micro Devices' quad-core Opteron "Barcelona" processors in its Proliant DL585 servers, according to company documents.
This comes as AMD is preparing to send samples of its "B3" quad-core Opteron processor to customers. The B3 stepping (or version) fixes, in silicon, a rarely occurring glitch in the Barcelona chip, referred to as the TLB bug. The bug has delayed shipment of quad-core chips to top-tier U.S. server vendors, giving Intel a leg-up in the high-end server market.
Currently, Proliant DL585 G2 servers use dual-core Opteron processors. But HP documentation updated last month makes copious reference to the quad-core Opteron used in HP's High-Performance Technical Computing (HPTC) DL585 models. For instance, documentation states: "The second generation (G2) HP ProLiant DL585 server offers the performance and efficiency of quad-core AMD Opteron processors, enhanced by improvements to all major subsystems in the server." This is found in a paper entitled "HP ProLiant DL585 G2 server technology."
Specifications for the DL582 G2 architecture include AMD Opteron 8200 series dual-core or 8300-series quad-core processors, Nvidia nForce Professional 2200 and 2050 chipsets, and the AMD 8132 chipset. Also: two 100MHz PCI-X slots, four PCI Express x4 slots, three PCI Express x8 slots, and two embedded multifunction gigabit network adapters.
The DL585 servers are targeted at the HPTC market in areas including electronic design automation (EDA)/semiconductor, financial applications, petrochemical applications, enterprise resource planning (ERP)/customer relationship management (CRM) applications, large database applications, and video rendering applications, among other uses, according to HP.
HP has also posted a notice on its Web site that states ProLiant Servers Configured with a Quad-Core AMD Opteron Processor "require a Service Pack Upgrade for Suse Linux Enterprise Server 9 SP 3 or Suse Linux Enterprise Server 10 to Support AMD PowerNow! Feature."
Top-tier U.S. server vendors are, for the most part, waiting for the B3 stepping of the Barcelona processor, though selected shipments of earlier versions of the Barcelona are going to specialized, high-performance computing (HPC) customers.
Samsung's ARM chip road map may contain signposts to future iPhone processors. On Tuesday, ARM Holdings and Samsung Electronics extended their Strategic Long-Term Licensing Agreement, allowing Samsung to retain access to key ARM processor IP. For the iPhone, this may result in faster, more powerful models. Samsung currently makes the main processor, based on an ARM11 design, in the Apple iPhone.
Samsung ARM processor
(Credit: Samsung Semiconductor)"The agreement is an extension of the previous subscription license and will enable Samsung to obtain early access to new technology, including the recently announced ARM Cortex-A9 processor, and broad access to a wide range of ARM IP," according to a joint release. Samsung will use the technology in future products aimed at the wireless, digital consumer, and mobile internet device markets, the company said in a statement.
The roadmap shows the ARM Cortex-ABN core achieving 800MHz in 2008 and 1GHz in 2009. Samsung is also slated to transition from 90-nanometer technology to 65nm later this year and 45nm in the latter half of 2009, according to the road map.
In a November 2007 interview with IDG News Service, ARM's CEO Warren East, said "there will be iPhone II, III...if we do our job right, then [iPhones] will be based on future ARM products." Though the main iPhone processor has taken on an Area-51 Hanger 18 aura of mystery, even after countless teardowns, one thing is clear: it is an ARM1176 core, similar to Samsung's S5L8900. "We have looked at the die markings inside the package itself and the die markings have a number of 'S5L8900' and as near as I can tell that's what the processor is," said Greg Quirk at Semiconductor Insights. Samsung, historically tight-lipped about any iPhone-related questions, could not be reached for comment.
Samsung is not necessarily a shoo-in, according to Quirk. Though there is a very good chance Apple will continue to use Samsung, he pointed to the fate of media processor supplier PortalPlayer--which generated 90 percent of its sales from Apple's iPod: it was dropped from the iPod (though, ironically, Samsung picked up some of this business). On another front, Quirk expects future iPhones to use new Bluetooth/Wi-Fi technology from Marvell Technology.
Apple is expected to bring out new models later this year that offer better performance and support 3G for faster broadband connections.
Samsung ARM roadmap
(Credit: Samsung Semiconductor)
- prev
- 1
- next
