ARM, Red Hat, AppliedMicro to develop disruptive 64-Bit server platform

ARM, Red Hat Inc, and Applied Micro Circuits Corp have announced a collaboration that aims to develop a disruptive 64-bit server design platform dramatically lowering the total cost of ownership (TCO) of cloud computing, data centres and enterprises. Fully compliant with the ARMv8 architecture, the AppliedMicro X-Gene Server on a Chip has been purpose-built for cloud and enterprise server deployment to deliver unprecedented low power, high performance and integration, with the goal of changing the way servers are designed for cloud, data center and enterprise applications. Red Hat, the world's leading provider of open source applications, is actively engaged in developing support within the Fedora community for the new 64-bit ARMv8 architecture, also known as AArch64. "We have a multi-year history in the ARM space, and already have our community-powered Fedora Linux distribution running on AppliedMicro hardware in our labs," said Jon Masters, chief ARM architect at Red Hat. "Red Hat is collaborating with AppliedMicro to enable support for ARM's 64-bit ARMv8 architecture used in the upcoming X-Gene Server-on-Chip designs. We aim to have a remix of Fedora 19 available in time to support the roll out of that platform." "We are excited to support AppliedMicro's innovation as it develops 64-bit ARM powered server system-on-a-chips," said Tom Cronk, deputy GM, processor division, ARM. "ARM's business model is centered on partnership, and this collaboration is a further example of ARM ensuring that a compelling software ecosystem coalesces. The ecosystem will enable the industry to take full advantage of the device innovation and integration underway for deployment in the server market." "The X-Gene platform is designed to enable web front end, big data, search and grid farm applications at a price/performance level previously not seen," said Vinay Ravuri, GM, X-Gene, AppliedMicro. "Open source is a key piece of the equation that, when combined with our fully integrated, purpose-built Server-on-Chip, delivers the cost efficiency, power and performance needed to serve evolving data center workloads. We believe this collaboration with ARM and Red Hat will transform the cloud server market." A demonstration of the initial support for the X-Gene platform being added to the Fedora Linux distribution will be held by Jon Masters, Chief ARM Architect at Red Hat, at the upcoming 2012 ARM TechCon on November 1 at 11:00 a.m. during a panel "ARM 64-bit Architecture and the Ecosystem: The Intersection of Open Software and Hardware," co-hosted by ARM and AppliedMicro at the San Francisco Santa Clara Convention Centre. ARM Red Hat Applied Microcircuits Corporation