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30 Minute Interview
Quad-core with performance and power-efficiency
AMD's quad-core processor, Barcelona, offers more than raw
performance. Michael O'Brien, Director, Worldwide Commercial Channel
Sales & Marketing, AMD and Alok Ohrie, Managing Director, AMD India
talk to Kushal Shah about Barcelona and their India-specific strategies.
Alok Ohrie |
Michael O’Brien |
Barcelona: the highlights
O’Brien: We launched Barcelona, the real quad-core
processor, on September 10th but we have been shipping it since August. The
processor comes with four key value propositions. Firstly, it offers superior
performance by offering a richer experience in the form of four cores. Next,
it has a virtualization platform which offers extended virtualization capabilities.
Then there is power efficiency for which features have been implemented supporting
enhanced power management. Lastly, Barcelona offers better interoperability
allowing customers to make use of dual-core sockets for quad-core processors
saving on cost and dispelling other implementation worries.
Power efficient cores
O’Brien: Power is an important subject these
days. It resonates well with customers and partners across the globe. To deal
with power concerns, we have a multi-core processor within which we have a dynamic
multi-core power grid. We can turn individual cores on and off in the same way
that you do in a room at home. You won’t see this feature in any other
microprocessor. You can do this power maintenance according to the demand which,
in turn, adds greater value. Getting granular, we have a technology called Cool
Core. In the actual cores, we have blocks; blocks that are not in use can be
turned off. Suppose for some applications floating point calculations are not
being performed; we can turn off that block altogether. E-mail and Web servers
don’t require a floating point block; if you are using those applications
you can switch that block off. We can lower the power even if a block is not
completely switched off. By doing this, you are taking your power management
to the next level. One more thing that we do is control power feed to the core
and memory controller. If memory is static then we can save power. All this
is being done to maximize performance with the least amount of power being consumed.
Last but not the least, we are using DDR3 memory which is cost-effective and
power-efficient as compared to DDR2 which is inefficient both in terms of cost
and power.
Faster Virtualization
O’Brien: On the virtualization front, we have
implemented a rapid virtualization index. Using this, we are able to enhance
performance by speeding up the process of switching between machines. This allows
us to do more work in less time. This also allows us to put more virtualized
machines on a server. A database application increases its speed by 90 percent
on Barcelona as 90 percent of the hypervisor workload is done away with. We
have been working with vendors such as VMware in this area. Their technology
will be further implemented in this stack and it will work faster serving as
an enabling technology to them. We have been sharing data at large with these
ISVs and now, they are also ready to go.
Superior performance and interoperability
O’Brien: We have seen that Barcelona can handle
a 120 percent higher workload than our dual-core offering. If it is to be compared
with some other quad cores, then we have got a figure of about 50 percent extended
capability. In terms of interoperability, during the transition period, servers
and workstations can be upgraded with Barcelona as it uses the same socket as
the AMD dual-core. Dell India has timed the process of replacement and according
to them they could change it in 12 minutes. Our Indian lab has done the replacement
faster than this. You do not need to change drivers or anything of that sort.
With a processor upgrade the number of users that your server can handle increases
without any other change being required.
Business Strategy
O’Brien: Our global strategy is coupled with
our partners such IBM, Sun, Novell and HP. We needed to make sure that they
were ready. Each of the regions will work with local players to make sure that
they are ready.
Ohrie: On the regional front, we have the likes of
HP, Wipro and TCS who are committed to offering a support-service platform.
They are ready and have launched their solutions at the launch and have started
suggesting Barcelona [as an option] to their customers. We are not stopping
there; we are talking to system integrators and facility vendors too. Some of
the system integrators are already ready with the solution.
Expectations
Ohrie: We are bullish about what we can do with this
product as we have got a positive response from customers and end partners.
At the launch I was delighted to see partners lining up to support us along
with ISVs. The Indian market for processors is much like the market that we
have for the telecommunication industry. All are ready to adapt quickly to new
technologies as we do not have much of legacy systems in these sectors. Technology
that is coming in now will see far greater and faster adoption [than in the
past].
Competing in India
Ohrie: We are a young company in India. Our competitors
have been here for 17 to 18 years. They have the early mover advantage and a
lot of mind share. We are just six years old in the country. IDC reports that
we have 19 percent of the Indian market which is roughly what AMD commands globally.
I agree that the gap is huge but we have started narrowing it. In India, we
have gained market share in last two quarters and I find a lot of enthusiasm
about AMD [that can be converted into sales provided that there is] open and
fair competition. We should get a level playing filed which is unobstructed.
The market needs to be more tender-driven.
Emerging technologies
O’Brien: In terms of technologies, we currently
have two major projects. First, there’s Fusion which deals with computation
as well as graphics engines and is getting a lot of attention from our partners.
Another project in our labs is Torrenza* to improve support for the integration
of specialized co-processors in systems based on Opteron microprocessors.
* By building a platform that can accept third party co-processors
AMD hopes that advanced hardware solutions will be built by others.
kushal.shah@expressindia.com
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