AMD will make big gains in the campaign with Milan

When AMD launched its 1^st EPYC generation processor, there was a very narrow focus on where it lay – the cloud. While the CPU had many features that made it attractive to the enterprise, the company was measured in its approach. Of course, the company would not turn away other opportunities, but its theme, “born in the cloud,” left no doubt as to where the company wanted to play. In addition, the company did not have the support of hardware and software ecosystem support to compete in the enterprise in a meaningful way.

With the launch of 2^nd CPU generation, a trend in the target markets. While the company was still winning in the cloud, enterprise IT organizations I spoke to were beginning to notice and Opteron’s stigma was rapidly declining. Under the leadership of Dan McNamara (ex-Intel), the company took a few quick steps to make the campaign stronger. In fact, it was the release of the company’s EPYC F-Series CPUs and the parts that were optimized for enterprise workload.

Last week, AMD launched its 3^rd Generation EPYC CPUs, and I believe the company has fully arrived; It is expected that a large share of the market will be gained through its profits in the enterprise. I will explain why in the following few paragraphs.

The server ecosystem is all built-in

I look at the server vendors to tell me if CPU has a path in the market. For example, if HPE sees demand for EPYC, the company would expect to make sure they have the package to meet the needs of the customers. On the other hand, if demand is scarce or dead, the company is definitely not increasing what they offer. Instead, it will review its portfolio and keep pat offers or potential based on roadmaps and previews.

Similarly, I would like to take a look at how OEMs place individual platforms in the package of unified solutions. For example, does a server vendor like Lenovo just offer servers, or does it integrate these platforms into ready – made solutions that are much easier to spend with IT? For example, solutions like HCI that are developed for workloads such as VDI or analytics. Again, such decisions are based on feedback from the market in general and customers in particular.

Finally, I look at whether a server vendor is uniquely positioning its platform for a specific workload or purpose. Regarding Dell EMC, the company mentioned the new EPYC-based XE8545 at Artificial Intelligence’s square. And Cisco is looking at the recently launched UCS servers along with its low-latency network Nexus that it offers as “the ultimate end-to-end solution for High-Frequency Trading.”

The above are just examples. One way or another, all major vendors have adopted EPYC and made the CPU an integral part of their individual records.

As you can see above, EPYC is well represented in the packages of all server vendors. The company now boasts more than 100 server platforms with server partners.

So, beyond the “choice” debate, why is this expanded package so important? The fact that these records span the range of form factors and sockets means that an enterprise can now fully embrace EPYC to fully support its needs. Low price single socket? Look up. Compact for VM farms? Look up. High-end servers to support a workload like EDA or HPC? Take a look, and take a look.

Second, with the improvements made to the overall performance of EPYC, OEMs can reliably set records to support any workload that an IT organization needs to use to support the business. For information on EPYC performance, visit here.

What about software?

Like the vendors of the server, the ISV ecosystem seems to have fully embraced EPYC as a first-class citizen of the datacenter and as the preferred choice. And the benefits here are obvious. In this software-defined age, IT organizations select workloads and software for use in the datacenter. If there are specific requirements for infrastructure, so be it.

When EPYC first launched in 2017, there was a lack of ISV ecosystem support. Enabling progress and support for these 3^rd EPYC generation is impressive and removes any barriers from an enterprise adopting an all-EPYC datacenter. Thus, with support and performance optimizations done by many ISV partners, EPYC is going to be a more attractive building block for IT organizations.

A good example of how the ISV ecosystem has adopted EPYC can be found in VMware and AMD relationships and in enabling Secure Encrypted Virtual (SEV). SEV is a feature built into the first release of EPYC. In fact, it is a way to encrypt each virtual machine with a special key. However, to make SEV work, changes must be made to the hypervisor to completely separate that encrypted VM. For a layman, consider drilling holes in a hypervisor while still enabling the management and allocation of resources for that VM. Enabling this is not an easy task for a company like VMware. As a result, the first generation of EPYC did not receive support for SEV which would make it act in the real world.

Fast two generations ahead and SEV is only supported by VMware; the company shared the platform with AMD at launch to talk in depth about deepening the relationship. Not only has VMware considered support for SEV-ES with vSphere and Tanzu, but performance optimization for EPYC microarchitecture. VMware believes that virtual and locked environments will run faster and more securely on systems running this new EPYC CPU.

Where I think EPYC can play well too

While AMD and its server partners seemed to focus on a critical workload for the enterprise datacenter such as VDI, database, virtual infrastructure, etc., I would like to see more emphasis on support for hybrid cloud environments and clouds (similar to VMware discussed). All server vendors play strong support in the hybrid multi-cloud environments that so many enterprise IT organizations struggle to rationalize. EPYC is very natural.

Hybrid cloud infrastructure begins with rich virtual support, an area where EPYC can claim a leadership role. Similarly, locked environments should run well on EPYC-based servers, regardless of whether those servers are virtual or bare metal.

VMware’s Cloud Foundation (VCF), Tanzu, RedHat OpenShift, HPE Ezmeral and the like, should be good candidates for EPYC-based platforms. If these platforms are not yet supported as information architecture or solutions offer, server vendors would be very suitable to start this work.

Closing remarks

About three and a half years ago, I wrote a Forbes article that outlined AMD ‘s challenges in winning the return campaign. With the 3^rd Generating EPYC, I believe the company is well prepared for success. Not just because of the CPU, but because of its partners ’made the CPU functional and attractive to an IT professional.

It’s going to be a good 2021 for EPYC.

Disclosure: My company, Moor Insights & Strategy, like all research and analysis firms, provides or provides analysis, analysis, consulting, and / or consulting to many high-tech companies in the world. industry, including AMD. I do not have equity positions with any of the companies listed in this column.