A new line of Opteron SoCs is joining AMD's lineup of enterprise processors, as the chipmaker finally announced its 64-bit ARM-based Opteron A1100 Series.
AMD's enterprise offerings have so far relied on X86 cores, but the new Opteron A1100 line now makes the jump toward ARM-based processor cores. The new SoCs are suitable for a wide range of applications, including storage, networking, 64-bit ARM software development or dense and low-power Web serving.
The new Opteron A1100, previously codenamed "Seattle," is AMD's very first 64-bit ARM Cortex-A57-based processor. The SoC packs eight Cortex-A57 CPU cores and each pair of cores shares a 1 MB L2 cache while an 8 MB L3 cache boosts the whole CPU cluster. The CPU supports both DDR3 and DDR4 support and can take up to 128 GB of EEC at up to 1,866 MHz.
Dual 10 GbE network connections, along with 14 SATA III ports, further make the Opteron A1100 a great choice for Web servers or databases (depending on size). The SoC also has eight lanes of third-generation PCIe, but it's not meant to serve as a GPU compute platform.
"AMD Opteron A1100 Series SOCs leverage AMD's industry-leading expertise in designing enterprise-class server products and build on the rapidly developing ARM software and development ecosystem to establish a new category of high performance, energy efficient processors for cloud computing, storage and networking infrastructure," AMD notes [pdf].
"Enabling datacenter and network operators to leverage highly integrated I/O, energy efficiency and superior compute density, AMD Opteron A1100 series SOCs provide unprecedented agility, choice, and system level integration helping lower TCO," adds AMD.
When it comes to design, the Opteron A1100 Series offers up to eight cores clocked at up to 2 GHz, depending on model. The A1120 is the low-end model of the line, operating at 1.7 GHz with just four cores and less L2 cache. The A1170, meanwhile, comes at the top of the line, gunning at 2 GHz. The low-end consumes just 25W, while the top-end pulls 32W.
AMD has yet to offer exact pricing information, but its new Opteron A1100 SoCs are expected to start at roughly $150. Check out the video below or read the press release to learn more.
