It'd be a bit presumptuous to predict that some new computing technology is going to "change everything" - that kind of hyperbole should be reserved for things like the Internet, electricity or the telephone.
But microservers...they have the potential to have a huge impact on the data center - and I predict that they will. And soon.
What Is a Microserver...and What Isn't
Not familiar with microservers? Not many are. They're also called ARM Servers or ARM-based Servers. I stumbled across them simply because I was looking for a differentiator in the delivery of Big Data and I'm in Austin, home to an innovator in this field - Calxeda.
By "microserver," I am NOT referring to products like the HP ProLiant MicroServer or the HP Moonshoot chassis, which are a technology comb-overs (i.e., Intel-based PCs). They are not microservers at all. This kind of marketing confusion is regrettable - which is perhaps why "ARM Server" seems to be the predominant term for this computing platform.
What Makes ARM Servers Revolutionary?
Unlike the aforementioned products, ARM Servers, are an entirely new generation of server computing - and they will make serious inroads into the enterprise in the next few years. A serious innovation - revolutionary, not evolutionary.
The key innovation is in creating an entire computer server on one single chip - instead of using a large number of components connected together on a board (or even multiple boards). This approach of putting an entire "System on a Chip" is commonly abbreviated as SoC.
These new ARM Server computing platforms are an entire system - multiple CPU cores, memory controllers, input/output controllers for SATA, USB, PCIe and others, high-speed network interconnect switches, etc. - all on a SINGLE chip measuring only one square inch. This is hyperscale integration technology at work.
To help put this into context, you can fit 72 quad-core ARM Servers into the space used by a single traditional server board.
Today's traditional server racks are typically packed with boards based on Intel XEON or AMD Opteron chips and are made up of a myriad of discrete components. They're expensive, powerful, power-hungry, use up a considerable amount of space, and can quickly heat up a room to the point where you can think you're in a sauna.
In contrast, the ARM Servers with their SoC design are small, very energy efficient, reliable, scalable - and incredibly well-suited for a wide variety of mainstream computing tasks dealing with large numbers of users, data and applications (like Web services, data crunching, media streaming, etc). The SoC approach of putting an entire system on a chip, results in a computer that can operate on as little as 1.5 watts of power.
Add in memory and a solid-state "disk drive" and you could have an entire server that runs on under 10 watts of power. For example, Calxeda's ECX-1000 quad-core ARM Server node with built-in Ethernet and SATA controllers, and 4GB of memory uses 5 watts at full power. In comparison, my iPhone charger is 7 watts and the power supply for the PC on my desk is 650 watts (perhaps that explains the $428 electric bill I got last month).
Realistically, these ARM Servers use about 1/10th the power, and occupy considerably less than 1/10th the space of traditional rack-mounted servers (for systems of equivalent computing power). And at an acquisition price of about half of what a traditional system costs.
And they are designed to scale - the Calxeda ECX-1000 ARM Servers are packaged up into "Energy Cards" - composed of four quad-core chips and 16 SATA ports.. They are designed with scalability in mind - they embed an 80 gigabit per second interconnect switch, which allows you to easily connect potentially thousands of nodes without all the cabling inherent in traditional rack-mounted systems (a large Intel-based system could have upwards of 2,000 cables). This also provides for extreme performance - node to node communication occurs on the order of
200 nanoseconds.
You can have four complete ARM Servers on a board that is only ten inches long and uses only about 20 watts of power at full speed - that's revolutionary.
How Do ARM Servers Translate into Business Benefits?
When you account for reduced computing center operations costs, lower acquisition costs, increased reliability due to simpler construction / fewer parts, and less administrative cost as a result of fewer cables and components, we're talking about systems that could easily cost 70% less to own and operate. If you toss in the cost to actually BUILD the computing center and not just "operate it", then the cost advantage is even larger. That's compelling - especially to larger companies that spend millions of dollars a year building and operating computing centers. Facebook, for example, has been spending about half a billion (yes, with a "b") dollars a year lately building and equipping their computing centers. Mobile devices are driving massive spending in this area - and in many cases, these are applications which are ideal for ARM Server architectures.
Why Don't I See More ARM Servers?
So - if all this is true, why haven't ARM Servers taken over the world?
My enthusiasm for ARM Servers is in their potential. This is still an early-stage technology and microserver hardware really has only been available since the last half of 2012. I doubt any companies are going to unload all their Xeon rack servers on eBay and buy a truckload of Calxeda ARM Servers this month. The "eco-system" for ARM Servers isn't fully developed yet. And ARM Servers aren't the answer to every computing problem - the hardware has some limitations (it's 32 bit, at least for now). Oh, and although it runs various flavors of Linux, it doesn't run Windows - whether that is a problem or an advantage depends on your individual perspective ;).
Irrespective of these temporary shortcomings, make no mistake - this is a revolutionary shift in the way that server systems will be (and SHOULD be) designed. Credible companies like Oppenheimer are on record predicting 100% growth rates for ARM Server technology over the next several years.
Although you personally may never own one of these systems, within the next couple of years, you will make use of ARM Servers all the time - as they have the potential to shrink the cost of Cloud Computing, "Big Data", media streaming and any kind of Web computing services to a fraction of the cost of what they are today.
Keep your eye on this little technology - it's going to be big.
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