AMD on IBM cloud bare metal servers

Posted by IBM

As we’re all adjusting to today’s new realities, we also continue to stay focused on serving the needs of our businesses and clients—and that’s never been truer us here at IBM. And although things are certainly changing, there is at least one thing we can count on to remain the same: Smart still loves problems.

We remain committed to bringing our clients more accessible, flexible, and usable cloud technologies to solve their most challenging tech-hurdles. That is why today, I’m pleased to announce that we’re expanding technology options for our IBM Cloud Bare Metal Servers by bringing new, 2nd Gen AMD EPYC™ processors onto the portfolio. With this new computing infrastructure, IBM Cloud continues to increase the flexibility of choice for clients looking for the latest bare metal server platforms.

Enhanced throughput and customer choice with AMD 

AMD’s latest-generation EPYC microarchitecture delivers the increased performance required to accelerate data analytics, EDA, AI applications, and virtualized/containerized workloads with IBM Cloud Bare Metal Servers. Clients demand high-CPU core counts and system throughput for today’s modern compute-intensive workload needs. The AMD CPU EPYC 7642 dual-socket server platform delivers 96 CPU cores, industry-leading memory and I/O throughput for exceptional performance resources needed to power high-performing workloads.

Top AMD CPU EPYC 7642 dual-socket server platform features

• 96 CPU cores per platform
• Base clock frequency of 2.3GHz with a maximum all-core boost of up to 3.3GHz
• 8 memory channels per socket for superior memory bandwidth
• Up to 4TB memory configuration support
• Up to 24 local storage drives supported
• OS support to be delivered, includes Red Hat Embedded Linux, CentOS, Ubuntu, and Microsoft Server
• Monthly, pay-as-you-use billing
• Orderable via the global IBM Cloud Catalog, API, or CLI

Why AMD EPYC CPU technology, and why now?

AMD and IBM Cloud are now working together to enable the best IBM Cloud Bare Metal experience for clients whose workloads demand high core count and throughput in a two-socket system. The 2nd Gen AMD EPYC™ family of processors provides IBM Cloud access to large core scaling, increased memory bandwidth, and some of the highest CPU performance possible for a variety of workloads—from bare metal to database, containers, and HPC.

In addition, the AMD EPYC™ architecture is designed around security from the ground up, with capabilities including encryption of main memory and virtual machine memory, and cryptographically to help secure the boot process so you can worry less and focus more on running your business.

“2nd Gen AMD EPYC processors deliver where it counts for cloud providers, providing the cores, scalability and throughput for critical workloads,” said Forrest Norrod, senior vice president and general manager, Data Center and Embedded Solutions, AMD. “We are extremely excited to extend the advantages of EPYC to new bare metal instances at IBM Cloud, helping customers tackle compute-intensive workloads powered by 2nd Gen AMD EPYC.”

Together, we understand that clients require the ability to choose the processor architecture that works best for them—not only for CPUs, but also for storage, networking, security, and more. The broad and customizable IBM Cloud Bare Metal Server portfolio, simply put, just got even better with AMD EPYC on board—more options from IBM Cloud, industry-leading core count and throughput, and performance you can count on.

Getting started

AMD EPYC 7642-based IBM Cloud Bare Metal Servers are now available for configuring, pricing, and quoting inside the IBM Cloud Catalog and are being made available in IBM Cloud data centers across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific regions.

―CT Bureau