ARM, Red Hat, and Applied Micro Circuits Corp. on Thursday announced a collaboration that aims to develop a 64-bit server design platform to lower the total cost of ownership (TCO) of cloud computing, data centers and enterprises.The platform will enable makers of servers to quickly adopt ARM hardware and software architecture in their products.

“We are excited to support AppliedMicro’s innovation as it develops 64-bit ARM powered server system-on-a-chips. ARM’s business model is centered on partnership, and this collaboration is a further example of ARM ensuring that a compelling software ecosystem coalesces. The ecosystem will enable the industry to take full advantage of the device innovation and integration underway for deployment in the server market,” said Tom Cronk, deputy general manager of processor division at ARM.

The server platform will be compliant with ARMv8 architecture and will utilize Red Hat Linux operating system. The platform will be based on the AppliedMicro X-Gene server-on-chip (SoC)  that has been purpose-built for cloud and enterprise server deployment to deliver unprecedented low power, high performance and integration, with the goal of changing the way servers are designed for cloud, data center and enterprise applications.

“The X-Gene platform is designed to enable web front end, big data, search and grid farm applications at a price/performance level previously not seen. Open source is a key piece of the equation that, when combined with our fully integrated, purpose-built server-on-chip, delivers the cost efficiency, power and performance needed to serve evolving data center workloads. We believe this collaboration with ARM and Red Hat will transform the cloud server market,” said Vinay Ravuri, general manager of X-Gene at AppliedMicro. 

Red Hat, the world’s leading provider of open source solutions, is actively engaged in developing support within the Fedora community for the new 64-bit ARMv8 architecture, also known as AArch64. 

“Red Hat is collaborating with AppliedMicro to enable support for ARM's 64-bit ARMv8 architecture used in the upcoming X-Gene Server-on-Chip designs. We aim to have a remix of Fedora 19 available in time to support the roll out of that platform,” said Jon Masters, chief ARM architect at Red Hat.

Tags: ARM, AppliedMicro, Applied Micro, Red Hat, ARMv8, X-Gene, Linux