Server vendor (OK, they sell workstations too) Boston has begun shipping its Viridis server, which leverages low power ARM chips – most popularly found in mobile devices – from Calxeda. The rack mountable 2U server comprises 192 processing cores and is being pitched at high throughput applications, such as big data processing. Each server draws less than 300 watts of power.
Each 2U chassis contains a total of 12 Calxeda EnergyCards connected to a common mainboard sharing power and fabric connectivity. The Calxeda EnergyCard is a single PCB module containing 4 Calxeda EnergyCore chips, each with 4GB RAM, 4 x SATA connectors and management interfaces.
Internally each Calxeda chip has dual 10gE links available to the host for provisioning by the application. Ethernet switching is handled internally by 80gps bandwidth on the chip’s fabric switch, thereby negating the need for additional switches that consume unnecessary power and add unwanted latency.
