GIGABYTE Releases Its First ARM Based Server Solutions

GIGABYTE released their first server products based on the ARM architectures on the opening day of WHD.global last week in Germany. The new solutions are developed in partnership with AppliedMicro and Annapurna Labs, two innovative members of the booming ARM for server ecosystem, and offer excellent performance-per-watt capabilities.

The new motherboard and servers are built around the AppliedMicro X-Gene’s ARMv8-A architecture and have the capabilities for up 128GB memory with the 8 DIMM slots. The network connectivity has plenty of coverage for even the most demanding operations with two 10Gbit SFP+ LAN ports and two normal RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet ports. There are four SATA3 ports, one USB 2.0 header, and an Aspeed AST2400 remote management controller.

Fully compliant with ARM Server Base System Architecture (SBSA) and Server Base Root Requirements (SBBR) standards, the new MP30-AR0 server board represents an optimized application solution for cloud and scale-out computing, supported by a robust network of over 1,000 open source software developers. AppliedMicro’s X-Gene processor, which became commercially available in 2014, is the industry’s first enterprise-hardened, ARM 64-bit Server on a Chip solution. Designed for cloud, enterprise server, and HPC applications, X-Gene’s distinguishing features include multiple high-performance processors running at up to 2.4GHz along with robust, high-speed memory and I/O.

Gigabyte also released the R120-P30 single socket 1U rackmount server with the above-mentioned motherboard. It’s built with 4 hot-swap bays to fit the onboard connectors and comes with a 350W 80 Plus Bronze certified PSU.

Now you might think that a server like that needs way more storage at its disposal, and so did GIGABYTE. The D120-S3G system is designed as an add-on storage expansion of existing server infrastructures and can support up to 100TB of raw capacity within a single 1U rackmount enclosure. It connects to the network over a dual 10GbE SFP+ interface and facilitates SATA3 ports for sufficient bandwidth and transfer rates.

It is powered by an Annapurna Labs Alpine AL5140 1.7GHz Quad-Core processor, based on the ARMv7 architecture and the Cortex-A15 core, and has an impressive low 10W power consumption. It is equipped with hardware RAID and Erasure Code engine supporting RAID 5 and 6 levels protection. It comes with a 400W 80 Plus Gold certified PSU, one ECC DIMM slot, and 16 HDD slots.

Thanks to GIGABYTE for providing us with this information