AMD aims at the datacenter market with 32-core Naples Zen

Last week we saw the launch of the first Ryzen 7 series processors from AMD and now the company provides a glimpse of the upcoming server-based version of the Zen architecture. Expected to be introduced in the second quarter of this year, the server version of Zen is known under its "Naples" codename. AMD said they're still unsure about the final name of the product, it could be Opteron or something entirely new like the company did with the Ryzen name.

Naples will be a highly scalable SoC with 32 cores and 64 threads. It offers eight DDR4 memory channels, 128 PCI Express 3.0 lanes and AMD Infinity Fabric interconnect support for linking two Naples SoCs in a 2-socket system.

AMD promises its Naples chips will give Intel's Broadwell-based Xeons a run for their money.

AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) today took a significant step into the server and datacenter market with its most detailed look yet at the upcoming high-performance CPU for servers, codenamed "Naples". Purpose-built to disrupt the status-quo and to scale across the cloud datacenter and traditional on-premise server configurations, "Naples" delivers the highly regarded "Zen" x86 processing engine in industry-leading configurations of up to 32 cores. Superior memory bandwidth and the number of high-speed input / output channels in a single-chip further differentiate "Naples" from anything else in the server market today. The first processors are scheduled to be available in Q2 2017, with volume availability building in the second half of the year through OEM and channel partners.

"Today marks the first major milestone in AMD re-asserting its position as an innovator in the datacenter and returning choice to customers in high-performance server CPUs," said Forrest Norrod, senior vice president and general manager, Enterprise, Embedded and Semi-Custom business unit, AMD. "'Naples' represents a completely new approach to supporting the massive processing requirements of the modern datacenter. This groundbreaking system-on-chip delivers the unique high-performance features required to address highly virtualized environments, massive data sets and new, emerging workloads."

The new AMD server processor exceeds today's top competitive offering on critical parameters, with 45% more cores, 60% more input / output capacity (I/O)2, and 122% more memory bandwidth3.

"It is exciting to see AMD back in the server conversation with a new CPU and a sound strategy for why it is the right processor for the modern datacenter and the cloud computing era," said Matt Eastwood, senior vice president, Enterprise Infrastructure and Datacenter, IDC. "Looking at the product details announced today, it sounds like a compelling combination that will give IT buyers a unique new option to consider when making their next upgrade."
"Naples" features:

A highly scalable, 32-core System on Chip (SoC) design, with support for two high-performance threads per core

Industry-leading memory bandwidth, with 8-channels of memory per "Naples" device. In a 2-socket server, support for up to 32 DIMMS of DDR4 on 16 memory channels, delivering up to 4 terabytes of total memory capacity.

The processor is a complete SoC with fully integrated, high-speed I/O supporting 128 lanes of PCIe® 34, negating the need for a separate chip-set

A highly-optimized cache structure for high-performance, energy efficient compute

AMD Infinity Fabric coherent interconnect for two "Naples" CPUs in a 2-socket system

Dedicated security hardware

AMD will deliver two presentations on its datacenter strategy and upcoming products this week during the Open Compute Summit. Scott Aylor, vice president of enterprise solutions will talk in the main hall on Wed., March 8th at 4:55 PM PST, while Dan Bounds, senior director of enterprise products, will deliver an engineering Tech Talk on Thurs., March 9th at 9:20 AM PST on the Expo Hall stage.