ADLINK Launches Server Modules With 80-Core SoCs for Embedded Applications
September 15, 2021
ADLINK Technology, which develops edge computing solutions, has announced the COM-HPC Ampere Altra, an 80-core COM-HPC server type module that aims to eliminate power-performance limitations. The new server type module is targeting edge platforms that can reliably and predictably process the most compute-intensive workloads, eliminating bottlenecks and restrictions typically caused by memory caches and system memory limits on edge devices.
The COM-HPC Ampere Altra core is an Ampere Altra system on a chip (SoC) using the Arm Neoverse N1 architecture. This gives premium performance within a relatively modest thermal envelope, lower total cost of ownership than x86 designs, and significantly lower power consumption, ADLINK said.
The system delivers a performance-power ratio of up to 80 Arm v8.2 64-bit cores running at up to 2.8 GHz with only 175 watts. The COM-HPC Ampere Altra provides three PCIe Gen4 x 16 lanes with a homogeneous architecture and valuable compute power for demanding workloads. This includes real-time/near real-time applications such as autonomous driving, stationary and mobile robotics, medical imaging and robotic surgery, test and measurement, and video broadcasting. In addition, the system can be used as a native arm64 development and compilation system for lower power embedded arm64 designs, ADLINK said.
“Ampere Altra delivers the scalable power and performance necessary to drive a variety of use cases in the embedded development community, from autonomous vehicles to medical instrumentation and industrial robotics,” said Jeff Wittich, chief product officer at Ampere. “By delivering this family of COM-HPC modules in collaboration with ADLINK, we give these industries new choices for power-efficient, high-performance SystemReady design. These can be applied whether in a vehicle or in the many edge devices out there that have had only x86 options to choose from in the past.”
“By teaming up with Ampere and Arm and using their Arm Neoverse N1-based Ampere Altra SoC, our high performance-per-watt COM-HPC Ampere Altra architecture allows our strategic partners and customers to process data-intensive workloads at the edge without worrying about big upfront investments, hardware overheating, or ongoing maintenance costs,” said Alex Wang, ADLINK’s product manager of embedded boards and modules.
ADLINK said Ampere Altra is one of the first with Arm SystemReady SR certification; the company is also working with Ampere and Arm to certify the COM-HPC Ampere Altra prototype system as a SystemReady SR device. The system supports the open source edk2 as bootloader with UEFI. Existing customers can download a stock aarch64 (arm64) ISO, such as Ubuntu, and install it through booting a live ISO directly on the target.
ADLINK offered key features of the COM-HPC Ampere Altra, including:
- Arm Neoverse N1-based architecture
- Scalable, from 32 to 80 Arm v8.2 64-bit cores (60 to 175 watts)
- 768 GB DDR4 with six individual memory channels for demanding workloads
- 64x PCIe Gen4 lanes
- edk2 bootloader with TianoCore / UEFI
- Arm SystemReady SR; ready to install stock aarch64 Ubunto 20.04, Yocto Linux
- Gigabit Ethernet support: 4x 10GbE and 1x GbE
- SOAFEE-compliant
For more information on the new system, visit the ADLINK website here.
