Highlights:

  • Altra CPUs are constructed on a seven-nanometer architecture based on a 64-bit Arm Ltd. design and intended for usage in cloud data centers and network edge scenarios.
  • The architecture lets Ampere put up to 128 cores on a single chip, which is the most of any CPU on the market.

Super Micro Computer Inc. recently announced an expansion of their Arm-based servers powered by the latest Altra and Ampere Altra Max processors from Ampere Computing LLC.

The newly released Mt. Hamilton servers are the most recent addition to Supermicro’s MegaDC server family. Utilizing a single, unified motherboard design, they are excellent for various cloud-native applications. According to the business, they are designed for cloud gaming, dense virtual desktop infrastructure, video-on-demand, infrastructure-as-a-service, databases, content delivery networks, object storage, and telecoms edge applications.

Arm-based Altra CPUs from Ampere first surfaced in 2020. Altra CPUs are constructed on a seven-nanometer architecture based on a 64-bit Arm Ltd. design and are intended for usage in cloud data centers and network edge scenarios. The architecture lets Ampere put up to 128 cores on a single chip, which is the most of any CPU on the market.

Supermicro stated that the MegaDC Arm-based servers have a “Building Block design” in which a single-socket motherboard is combined with an Ampere Altra or Ampere Altra Max central processor unit with up to 128 cores per server. In addition, they have up to 4 terabytes of Double Data Rate 4 Synchronous Dynamic Random-Access Memory, and a modular design that offers different options for Input/Output (I/O), Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe), and storage. The business says that this configuration would give exceptionally high performance per watt, making these servers excellent for handling scalable workloads that need an extremely low-latency response.

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

Customers can select from various servers outfitted with a single Ampere Altra or Altra Max CPU, with options of 1U or 2U form factors, up to four double-width graphics processing units, or alternatively 24x 2.5-inch U.2 NVMe hot-swappable drives. Each system is equipped with redundant 25GbE SFP28 Ethernet networking utilizing NVIDIA Mellanox CX4. According to the business, their internal air conditioning technology allows them to work at ambient temperatures of up to 35°C (95°F) for Enterprise applications and 55°C (131°F) for Edge applications.

Ampere Chief Product Officer Jess Wittich said, “Mt. Hamilton brings Ampere’s dense, efficient commute to a broad set of user cases from the central cloud to the distributed edge. 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.”