ACADEMIA
Violin Memory, AMD Collaborate on Terabyte-Scale Server Memory
Violin Memory Appliances Support AMD Processors and Cache Coherent HyperTransport Technology:Violin Memory today announced a technology alliance with AMD that will combine memory appliances and the HyperTransport technology high-speed interconnect in order to meet the demands of ever-increasing dataset size and application performance. The combined technology offering will cost-effectively extend server memory to Terabytes with significant reductions in power consumption, while increasing system reliability and availability. 
Under the agreement, Violin and AMD will use HyperTransport technology to enable Violin 1010 Memory Appliances to connect directly with AMD Opteron processor-based servers and extend main memory resources. The cache coherency protocol of HyperTransport technology will enable several processors to share extensive memory resources from one or more Violin Memory Appliances. This extended memory model will enable these servers to support much larger datasets.
Violin's Memory Appliances enable Terabyte scale DRAM memory through the use of a unique switched memory technology. A single 2U appliance can support 84 Violin Memory Modules (VIMMs). Each module supports 6 GBytes of DRAM, which provides for total appliance capacity of 504 GBytes. Violin Switched Memory (VXM) enables increased reliability by providing RAID-like redundancy and allowing failed memory modules to be replaced without the loss of application data.
HyperTransport technology is the industry's leading high-speed processor interconnect. Using HyperTransport technology in multi-processor servers enables scalability through the use of a cache coherency protocol which allows many multi-core processors to share a common memory space.
"HyperTransport technology has been very well designed for performance, scale and extensibility," said Donpaul Stephens, President of Violin Memory. "Violin Memory Appliances have been engineered specifically for low latency and high bandwidths required for the extension of server memory. Together, these technologies enable a best-of-breed approach to scaling memory in the data center."
An AMD Opteron processor-based server connected to a HyperTransport technology-enabled Violin Memory Appliance will have both directly connected memory and Extended Memory resources. Directly connected memory can be selected for bandwidth and latency while the Extended Memory can be much larger and located in the Memory Appliance. Applications such as large databases will benefit from the large-scale memory footprints enabled through Extended Memory.
"The combination of the industry's lowest latency, directly connected memory and Violin's Memory Appliances will enable further application performance and system scalability," said David Rich, director of High Performance Computing at AMD and president of the HyperTransport Consortium. "Memory density and power efficiency in the data center can both be greatly improved with this solution."
Violin has opened an Austin facility to pursue the development of the HyperTransport technology interconnect. Peter Geiger, formerly of Newisys and IBM, has joined as the lead architect for Violin's Server Solutions. He said, "Violin looks forward to collaborating with leading server vendors to develop products using AMD processors, HyperTransport technology and Violin Memory technologies."
Products using this technology development effort are planned for the second half of 2008 and will be based on the Violin 1010 Memory Appliance. The Violin 1010 is currently shipping to early adopters with up to 504GB of DRAM and is being used for storage and database acceleration.
Under the agreement, Violin and AMD will use HyperTransport technology to enable Violin 1010 Memory Appliances to connect directly with AMD Opteron processor-based servers and extend main memory resources. The cache coherency protocol of HyperTransport technology will enable several processors to share extensive memory resources from one or more Violin Memory Appliances. This extended memory model will enable these servers to support much larger datasets.
Violin's Memory Appliances enable Terabyte scale DRAM memory through the use of a unique switched memory technology. A single 2U appliance can support 84 Violin Memory Modules (VIMMs). Each module supports 6 GBytes of DRAM, which provides for total appliance capacity of 504 GBytes. Violin Switched Memory (VXM) enables increased reliability by providing RAID-like redundancy and allowing failed memory modules to be replaced without the loss of application data.
HyperTransport technology is the industry's leading high-speed processor interconnect. Using HyperTransport technology in multi-processor servers enables scalability through the use of a cache coherency protocol which allows many multi-core processors to share a common memory space.
"HyperTransport technology has been very well designed for performance, scale and extensibility," said Donpaul Stephens, President of Violin Memory. "Violin Memory Appliances have been engineered specifically for low latency and high bandwidths required for the extension of server memory. Together, these technologies enable a best-of-breed approach to scaling memory in the data center."
An AMD Opteron processor-based server connected to a HyperTransport technology-enabled Violin Memory Appliance will have both directly connected memory and Extended Memory resources. Directly connected memory can be selected for bandwidth and latency while the Extended Memory can be much larger and located in the Memory Appliance. Applications such as large databases will benefit from the large-scale memory footprints enabled through Extended Memory.
"The combination of the industry's lowest latency, directly connected memory and Violin's Memory Appliances will enable further application performance and system scalability," said David Rich, director of High Performance Computing at AMD and president of the HyperTransport Consortium. "Memory density and power efficiency in the data center can both be greatly improved with this solution."
Violin has opened an Austin facility to pursue the development of the HyperTransport technology interconnect. Peter Geiger, formerly of Newisys and IBM, has joined as the lead architect for Violin's Server Solutions. He said, "Violin looks forward to collaborating with leading server vendors to develop products using AMD processors, HyperTransport technology and Violin Memory technologies."
Products using this technology development effort are planned for the second half of 2008 and will be based on the Violin 1010 Memory Appliance. The Violin 1010 is currently shipping to early adopters with up to 504GB of DRAM and is being used for storage and database acceleration. 