{"id":28716,"date":"2023-01-09T17:07:38","date_gmt":"2023-01-09T17:07:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2023\/01\/09\/the-networked-cpu-is-shifting-with-the-addition-of-data-processing-units-amd-explains\/"},"modified":"2023-01-09T17:07:38","modified_gmt":"2023-01-09T17:07:38","slug":"the-networked-cpu-is-shifting-with-the-addition-of-data-processing-units-amd-explains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2023\/01\/09\/the-networked-cpu-is-shifting-with-the-addition-of-data-processing-units-amd-explains\/","title":{"rendered":"The networked CPU is shifting with the addition of data processing units: AMD explains"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>\n
<\/p>\n

\n

Server consolidation is becoming an increasingly important part of major semiconductor device manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices Inc.\u2019s reach, according to Kumaran Siva<\/a>\u00a0(pictured), corporate vice president of strategic business development at AMD.<\/p>\n

He believes that companies upgrading aging servers not only massively reduce their costs because of new-found efficiencies, but it also allows for new enterprise workloads to be run, such as artificial intelligence. It\u2019s particularly relevant for firms that can\u2019t move to the cloud, for regulatory reasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cCalculation where we showed 27, I think, five-year old servers, can be consolidated down into five AMD servers,\u201d he said. New kinds of network cards are also involved.<\/p>\n

Siva spoke with theCUBE industry analysts Lisa Martin<\/a> and David Nicholson<\/a>\u00a0at the recent\u00a0VMware Explore<\/a>\u00a0event, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media\u2019s livestreaming studio. They discussed how AMD remained bullish on hardware, despite an obvious shift by many digital-oriented enterprises to the cloud. (* Disclosure below.)<\/em><\/p>\n

Shift from legacy servers saves money<\/h3>\n

Fully depreciated hardware, where the costs have been written off already, shouldn\u2019t be knee-jerk-retained to save money, according to Siva. He points out that running costs are considerably lower with new servers and that the investment will pay for itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe power and the administration, the [operating] costs that are associated with it are greater than the cost of acquiring a new set, a smaller set of AMD servers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

That also ties well into a modern company\u2019s sustainability goals: \u201cTCO involves energy consumption,\u201d Siva added.<\/p>\n

There are hidden cost savings realized in shifting away from legacy servers to new ones, and by not transitioning to a cloud-based operation:\u00a0\u201cPeople have depreciated their data centers [already],\u201d he said. \u201cSo, the cost for them to just go put in new AMD servers is actually very low compared to the cost of having to go buy a public cloud service.\u201d<\/p>\n

The role of the data processing unit<\/h3>\n

Data processing units are increasingly going to play a part in AMD\u2019s semiconductor-based offerings.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat the DPU allows you to do is actually offload a bunch of functions directly onto the card,\u201d Siva stated. He\u2019s talking about traditionally-functioned CPU activities, such as packet processing in a \u201cdumb\u201d network card, where the packets are transitioned to a PCI, or virtual switching.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou free up some of the CPU cores,\u201d he says, explaining where the DPU comes in and about the difference between CPUs and DPUs.\u00a0\u201cMakes your infrastructure run more efficiently, but probably even more importantly, it provides you with greater security, greater separation between the networking side and the CPU side.\u201d<\/p>\n

Encryption point-to-point, within the network, notably, is also performed via the DPU card. Separating network from server is a \u201ckind of a better network for enterprise,\u201d Siva stated. \u201cEvery connection there is actually encrypted and managing those policies and orchestrating all of that \u2014 that\u2019s done through the DPU card.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additionally, the card, called, the Pensando SmartNIC handles compression. VMware\u2019s Project Monterey along with vSphere security functionality is included.<\/p>\n

\u201cCloud-like techniques [are now incorporated] into the mainstream on-premises enterprise,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE\u2019s and theCUBE\u2019s coverage of VMware Explore<\/a>:<\/p>\n