AMD64 based Computing Platforms for Telecommunications
From a hardware point of view, key equipment within Next-Generation-Networks is
based on server computing technology. Beyond standard server products for Next-
Generation-Networks, AMD Opteron processors are also available in open standard
chassis platforms like AdvancedTCA (ATCA), BladeCenter and CompactPCI. These
platforms are building blocks for solutions that provide the longevity and reliability
required by service providers in communication networks such as IP Multimedia
Subsystem (IMS), Voice over IP (VoIP), Global System for Mobile Communications
(GSM), and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) wireless networks. At this level,
AMD64 technology provides several unique customer value propositions:
1. Industry-Leading Performance-Per-Watt
With the equipment changes and upgrades to accommodate new services and
additional throughput, the costs from power consumption and air conditioning are
becoming a major concern for service providers. AMD PowerNow!™ technology with
Optimized Power Management provides power on demand computing, and can
reduce CPU power consumption by as much as 43 percent while under an
approximate 60 percent load, or up to 75% reduction in CPU power when idle.
Adjusting CPU power for the load creates a ripple effect of benefits in the data center
that can increase dramatically as the number of processors increases. These benefits
can include reduction in the amount of heat produced by the processor and other
components, and reduction in the amount of electricity required to both run and cool
the system. By offering a processor that provides for a dense compute configuration
with low overall power consumption, AMD helps make it possible to put more compute
capability in data centers and central offices and potentially lower utility costs.
Evolutionary deployment of new technology like IMS and 3G must be based on scalable
architectures and the long-term protection of past investments. To this end, AMD64
technology offers an innovative solution that allows network operators and service
providers to run 32-bit and 64-bit applications simultaneously – operators and service
providers can grow into 64-bit computing without sacrificing their existing investments.
Perhaps even more importantly, AMD64 technology was designed from the
ground up with multi-core computing in mind, resulting in high performance for
multi-threaded and multi-tasking environments. Quad-Core AMD Opteron
processors will be socket compatible with today’s DDR2-based AMD Opteron
processors, offering a seamless upgrade path to quad-core performance as
demand increases.
This simplified platform approach to implementing multi-core technology is
further enhanced by Direct Connect Architecture, which provides exceptional
system performance and multi-processor scalability in up to 8-processor
systems.
3. AMD’s revolutionary Direct Connect Architecture
AMD64 technology with Direct Connect Architecture was designed to improve overall
system performance and efficiency by directly connecting the processors, the memory,
and the I/O. Directly connecting these elements helps eliminate the front-side bus
bottleneck inherent in legacy x86 architectures.
On the AMD Opteron processor, the integrated DDR2 DRAM memory controller changes
the way the processor accesses main memory to increase bandwidth and reduce
memory latencies.
With dual channel RDDR2-667 available on the AMD Opteron 2000 and 8000 Series
processors and UDDR2-800 available on the AMD Opteron 1000 Series processors,
theoretical maximum memory bandwidth (per core) is between 10.6GB/s and 12.8GB/s.
Another benefit of integrating the memory controller directly on the processor is that
memory bandwidth scales with the addition of processors. This helps provide highthroughput
responsiveness and scalability with multi-processor platforms.
AMD64 technology with Direct Connect Architecture features HyperTransport™
technology and provides up to 8.0GB/s bandwidth per HyperTransport link— sufficient
bandwidth for interconnect technologies including PCI Express®, PCI-X®, DDR, InfiniBand,
and 10G Ethernet. AMD Opteron processors support up to three HyperTransport links
per processor, providing up to 24.0GB/s peak bandwidth per processor.
These processor-level features can provide a tremendous competitive advantage for
database applications. AMD’s Direct Connect Architecture allows each processor in the
multi-processor compute node to access the memory of the other processors at low
latency with high bandwidth. The up to 256 terabytes of memory address space of
AMD Opteron processors helps the performance of applications when large (or many)
datasets are held in memory, as is the case with billing systems.
4. AMD Virtualization™ Technology (AMD-V™)
Second-Generation AMD Opteron processors are designed to help end the “one server,
one application” problem. With hardware-assisted AMD Virtualization™ technology
(AMD-V™), Second-Generation AMD Opteron processors can help streamline the
Telecom infrastructure to achieve higher levels of efficiency and utilization.
Regardless of the specific network implementation chosen by a particular service
provider, AMD-V™ helps enable a flexible, one–to-many relationship between hardware,
operating systems, and applications, and contributes to functional flexibility,
implementation, and distribution for network equipment vendors.
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