AMD 12-core processor for hosting environments

With its 12-core processors set to be released by the end of the month, AMD is promoting its multi-core processing and scalability for use in hosting environments.

As AMD server and workstation products director John Fruehe explains, processor cores and efficiency can go hand-in-hand. Having created the first duo code processors, AMD has always held efficiency as one of its greatest goals as the market focus changed from performance to power to price performance per watt.

With all the metrics around, however, which one can you trust? "There is only one thing you can trust: power at the wall," Fruehe said. And AMD-based servers demonstrate this by only drawing 100 watts at extreme workloads.

AMD processors provide power management and monitoring systems that turn off parts of the processor to save power.

In fact, AMD processors offer management capabilities so that customers that are not allowed to have their I/O traffic mingling with other companies can virtualize these data streams and remove that legal liability.

AMD is also simplifying its offerings as it rolls out two platforms: the 6000 and the 4000. In just two weeks, it will roll out the high-end AMD Opteron 6000, the first 12 core processors (and the 16 core processors "sometime in the 2011 time frame.") Fruehe said the 6000 series will be priced very similar to the six core processors.

With more cores and four channels of memory, the 6000 can run more and more virtual machines. And from a power perspective, the 12 core processors will idle at lower power than current six core processors. double the ampt of capability with the same thermal, power and price range.

Addressing the need for efficient applications specifically for the hosting and cloud market, AMD Opteron 4000 features very low power consumption.

Fruehe notes that many commentators over that past few years (some predicted that blade servers would make up 75 percent of the market presently), but he made is own prediction, which is a little easier to bank on.

He said that the 4p server market, which has been shrinking recently, is poised to grow substantially. Businesses that baulk at $1,600 and $2,000 price tags are going to increasingly see 4p as AMD "a dramatic drop " in 4p prices. And when companies invest in 4p, the number of virtual machines they can run goes up dramatically over 2p.