Server Rental Market Shaken Up by Unveiling of “Ultimate Cloud Computing Processor”

Intel had better get ready to rumble.

Other chip manufacturers are coming out with several plausible options that just might give Intel a run for its money. And one, in particular, has been billed as the “ultimate cloud computing processor.”

Tilera has taken on Intel’s much hyped Sandy Bridge line with its Tile-Gx 3000 Series server processors, which should provide a healthy alternative to the Xeon and Opteron lines. The new “general purpose” (yet still ultimate) CPUs will have up to 100 processing cores, which will clock in at speeds between 1 and 1.5 GHz.

The new Tile-Gx processor family will support a broad range of server applications – including the push towards the cloud. Data cashing, web and database apps and high performance computing functions are all served by this development, but its full impact on the market remains to be seen.

There are three separate chips in the family – the Gx 3036, the Gx 3064 and the Gx 3100. They vary in size, speed and performance and range in terms of their specs. A common benefit among all three chips is its architecture – which gets rid of discrete components and external bridges, resulting in less board space and the necessity for complex design.

On Tilera’s website, the company states that its Gx 3000 Series will support C, C++, ANSI, PERL, Python, PHP and other standard programming languages, which should make it appealing for straight out-of-the-box adaption.

Tilera’s Ihab Bishara, its director of server solutions, recognizes the impact that Tilera’s newest development may have. Bishara said, “We have been working with the largest cloud computing companies for two years to design a processor that addresses their biggest pain points. The TILE Gx 3000 series has features like 64-bit processing, virtualization support and high processor frequency, which were specifically implemented for our web customers.”

Later, Bishara added. “The era of 20-30 percent incremental gains is over. The Gx 3000 series provides the order of magnitude improvements the industry is looking for.”

Actual array sizes will vary between having 16 and 100 general-purpose processor cores (or “tiles” as Tilera calls them) and the chips will use somewhere in the range of 20 and 48 watts of power. This reduced power consumption is certainly a selling point, considering that less power consumption equates to bigger bottom lines.

We offer a wide variety of processors in our server rental units – and since we stock over $40 million in inventory, we can happily get you whatever chip or configuration you require.