GIGABYTE Technology: Giga Computing, a subsidiary of GIGABYTE and an industry leader in high-performance servers, server motherboards, and workstations, today announced new GIGABYTE enterprise series solutions for the AMD EPYC 8004 Series processors. Giga Computing is committed to reaching all sizes of data centers to deliver the best compelling solution, and now is doing so with new AMD EPYC 8004 CPUs that target edge applications, CSPs, and value enterprises. For these uses, the new R243 and R143 server series are poised alongside ME33 and ME03 motherboard series to deliver cost-optimized performance.

Leveraging the "Zen 4c" core architecture, the AMD EPYC 8004 Series CPUs deliver performance and power efficiency with built-in security capabilities in an optimized single-socket platform. Additionally, the new SP6 socket was designed to enable the power, cost, and form factor requirements for the AMD EPYC 8004 Series CPUs' target markets as well as diverse applications such as intelligent edge computing and telco.

TYAN, an industry-leading server platform design manufacturer and a subsidiary of MiTAC Computing Technology Corporation, today announced availability of new single-socket server platforms supporting AMD EPYC 8004 Series processors. These platforms are purpose built for cloud services and intelligent edge deployments while offering lower operating costs and delivering impressive energy efficiency.

"The AMD EPYC 8004 Series CPUs deliver a great combination of impressive performance and streamlined platform componentry which enables us to develop business-relevant server configurations for our customers," said Eric Kuo, Vice President of the Server Infrastructure Business Unit at MiTAC Computing Technology. "TYAN's innovative server platform, fueled by EPYC 8004 Series CPUs, empowers us to provide our customers with cost-effective solutions while also expanding into new markets."

Supermicro, Inc., a Total IT Solution Provider for Cloud, AI/ML, Storage, and 5G/Edge, is announcing the AMD based Supermicro H13 generation of WIO Servers, optimized to deliver strong performance and energy efficiency for edge and telco datacenters powered by the new AMD EPYC 8004 Series processors. The new Supermicro H13 WIO and short-depth front I/O systems deliver energy-efficient single socket servers that lower operating costs for enterprise, telco, and edge applications. These systems are designed with a dense form factor and flexible I/O options for storage and networking, making the new servers ideal for deploying in edge networks.

"We are excited to expand our AMD EPYC-based server offerings optimized to deliver excellent TCO and energy efficiency for data center networking and edge computing," said Charles Liang, president and CEO of Supermicro. "Adding to our already industry leading edge-to-cloud rack scale IT solutions, the new Supermicro H13 WIO systems with PCIe 5.0 and DDR5-4800 MHz memory show tremendous performance for edge applications."

AMD today rolled out the new compacted Socket SP6 server platform designed for smaller servers locally deployed at the edge by organizations. With CPU core-counts of up to 64-core/128-thread, these processors are based on the "Zen 4c" microarchitecture, which comes with identical IPC and ISA to "Zen 4," but with smaller L3 cache available per core. The EPYC 8004 series targets traditional data-centers located on-site for organizations. Even if the heavy-lifting of the IT for them is performed by remote data-centers or cloud providers, organizations still need smaller edge server deployments. The EPYC 8004 series caters to a different kind of servers than the ones the lower core-count models of EPYC 9004 "Genoa" do.

With the EPYC 8004 series, AMD is debuting a new smaller CPU socket called SP6. The socket measures 58.5 mm x 75.4 mm, compared to the 76.0 mm x 80.0 mm of Socket SP5 powering EPYC 9004 "Genoa" and EPYC 97x4 "Bergamo." Socket SP5 is an LGA with a pin count of 4,844, compared to SP5, which is LGA-6096. The first line of processors for this socket, the EPYC 8004 series, are codenamed "Siena." These are very much part of the 4th Gen EPYC series, a lineage it shares with "Genoa" for data-center servers, "Genoa-X" for compute servers, and "Bergamo" for high-density cloud.

Intel Innovation 2023 - September 13, 2023 - MiTAC Computing Technology, a professional IT solution provider and a subsidiary of MiTAC Holdings Corporation, will showcase its DSG (Datacenter Solutions Group) product lineup powered by 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors for enterprise, cloud and AI workloads at Intel Innovation 2023, booth #H216 in the San Jose McEnery Convention Center, USA, from September 19-20.

"MiTAC has seamlessly and successfully managed the Intel DSG business since July. The datacenter solution product lineup enhances MiTAC's product portfolio and service offerings. Our customers can now enjoy a comprehensive one-stop service, ranging from motherboards and barebones servers to Intel Data Center blocks and complete rack integration for their datacenter infrastructure needs," said Eric Kuo, Vice President of the Server Infrastructure Business Unit at MiTAC Computing Technology.

Lanner Electronics, a leading provider of advanced network appliances and edge AI computing platforms, is excited to introduce the new PCIe AI Acceleration Card, Falcon Lite, powered by Hailo-8 AI processors. The Falcon Lite's modular PCIe form factor provides a flexible solution for solution providers looking to accelerate edge AI workloads with deployment flexibility and power efficiency.

The Lanner Falcon Lite PCIe AI Acceleration Card is designed to meet the soaring demand for scalable intelligent video analytics applications in smart retail, Industry 4.0, and intelligent transportation. With high-density AI processors, the Falcon Lite can accommodate 2, 3, and 4 Hailo-8 AI processors, offering up to 104 tera operations per second (TOPS) of AI performance to offload the CPU for low-latency deep learning inference.

Kaleidescape, maker of the ultimate movie platform, has announced the availability of its new Terra Prime movie server product line. Terra Prime features an all-new board design with faster processing power and faster network - the only dedicated movie server with 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet. The new servers are available with either high-capacity hard drives or fast solid-state drives. "Kaleidescape's new Terra Prime movie servers support lightning-fast movie downloads and can serve more Kaleidescape high-bitrate 4K movies concurrently to multiple screens," said Tayloe Stansbury, Kaleidescape chairman & CEO.

Kaleidescape Terra Prime SSD Movie Servers
Terra Prime SSD movie servers are the fastest and quietest movie servers available, ideal for yachts and large installations. Terra Prime SSD downloads Kaleidescape high-bitrate 4K movies in as little as four minutes and serves up to 25 simultaneous playback zones. Terra Prime SSD 31 TB stores approximately 500 Kaleidescape high-bitrate 4K movies and the 8 TB model stores roughly 125 Kaleidescape high-bitrate 4K movies.

TrendForce research reveals that, due to the impacts of high inflation and economic downturn, CSPs are adopting more conservative strategies when it comes to capital expenditure and consistently reducing their annual server demand forecasts. Currently, CSPs in China have reported a decline in cloud orders compared to last year, leading to a subsequent decrease in annual procurement volumes for enterprise SSDs. In North America, some clients have postponed mass production timelines for new server platforms while ramping up investments in AI servers. These factors have resulted in enterprise SSD orders falling below expectations. Consequently, global enterprise SSD revenue hit an all-time low in the second quarter, totaling just $1,500 million—a QoQ decrease of 24.9%.

Demand for AI servers remains strong in the third quarter, while orders and shipment momentum for general-purpose servers have yet to show signs of recovery. This continues to put pressure on the purchasing volume of enterprise SSDs, and annual bit volume is expected to be lower than last year. Meanwhile, vendors have once again reduced capacity utilization to slow down inventory growth. Server customers still maintain high inventory levels, and their purchasing momentum remains insufficient. This is expected to lead to an approximate 15% QoQ decline in the average price of enterprise SSDs in the third quarter, which may further result in a lackluster revenue performance for the peak season.

TrendForce expects that memory suppliers will continue their strategy of scaling back production of both DRAM and NAND Flash in 2024, with the cutback being particularly pronounced in the financially struggling NAND Flash sector. Market demand visibility for consumer electronic is projected to remain uncertain in 1H24. Additionally, capital expenditure for general-purpose servers is expected to be weakened due to competition from AI servers. Considering the low baseline set in 2023 and the current low pricing for some memory products, TrendForce anticipates YoY bit demand growth rates for DRAM and NAND Flash to be 13% and 16%, respectively. Nonetheless, achieving effective inventory reduction and restoring supply-demand balance next year will largely hinge on suppliers' ability to exercise restraint in their production capacities. If managed effectively, this could open up an opportunity for a rebound in average memory prices.

PC: The annual growth rate for average DRAM capacity is projected at approximately 12.4%, driven mainly by Intel's new Meteor Lake CPUs coming into mass production in 2024. This platform's DDR5 and LPDDR5 exclusivity will likely make DDR5 the new mainstream, surpassing DDR4 in the latter half of 2024. The growth rate in PC client SSDs will not be as robust as that of PC DRAM, with just an estimated growth of 8-10%. As consumer behavior increasingly shifts toward cloud-based solutions, the demand for laptops with large storage capacities is decreasing. Even though 1 TB models are becoming more available, 512 GB remains the predominant storage option. Furthermore, memory suppliers are maintaining price stability by significantly reducing production. Should prices hit rock bottom and subsequently rebound, PC OEMs are expected to face elevated SSD costs. This, when combined with Windows increasing its licensing fees for storage capacities at and above 1 TB, is likely to put a damper on further growth in average storage capacities.

Ampere Computing, known for its Altra (Max) and upcoming AmpereOne families of AArch64 server processors tailored for data centers, has released a guide for enthusiasts on running Steam for Linux on these ARM64 processors. This includes using Steam Play (Proton) to play Windows games on these Linux-powered servers. Over the summer, Ampere Computing introduced a GitHub repository detailing the process of running Steam for Linux on their AArch64 platforms, including Steam Play/Proton. While the guide is primarily designed for Ampere Altra/Altra Max and AmpereOne hardware, it can be adapted for other 64-bit Arm platforms. However, a powerful processor is essential to appreciate the gaming experience truly. Additionally, for the 3D OpenGL/Vulkan graphics to function optimally, an Ampere workstation system is more suitable than a headless server.

The guide recommends the Ampere Altra Developer platform paired with an NVIDIA RTX A6000 series graphics card, which supports AArch64 proprietary drivers. The guide uses Box86 and Box64 to run Steam x86 binaries and other x86/x86-64 games for emulation. While there are other options like FEX-Emu and Hangover to enhance the Linux binary experience on AArch64, Box86/Box64 is the preferred choice for gaming on Ampere workstations, as indicated by its mention in Ampere Computing's Once the AArch64 Linux graphics drivers are accelerated and Box86/Box64 emulation is set up, users can install Steam for Linux. By activating Proton within Steam, it becomes feasible to play Windows-exclusive x86/x86-64 games on Ampere AArch64 workstations or server processors. However, the guide doesn't provide insights into the performance of such a configuration.

NVIDIA's latest financial report for FY2Q24 reveals that its data center business reached US$10.32 billion—a QoQ growth of 141% and YoY increase of 171%. The company remains optimistic about its future growth. TrendForce believes that the primary driver behind NVIDIA's robust revenue growth stems from its data center's AI server-related solutions. Key products include AI-accelerated GPUs and AI server HGX reference architecture, which serve as the foundational AI infrastructure for large data centers.

TrendForce further anticipates that NVIDIA will integrate its software and hardware resources. Utilizing a refined approach, NVIDIA will align its high-end, mid-tier, and entry-level GPU AI accelerator chips with various ODMs and OEMs, establishing a collaborative system certification model. Beyond accelerating the deployment of CSP cloud AI server infrastructures, NVIDIA is also partnering with entities like VMware on solutions including the Private AI Foundation. This strategy extends NVIDIA's reach into the edge enterprise AI server market, underpinning steady growth in its data center business for the next two years.

ASUS today announced that ESC8000 and ESC4000 servers with the latest NVIDIA L40S GPUs are ready for order with greater availability and better performance per dollar. To transform with generative AI, enterprises need to deploy more compute resources at a larger scale - and ASUS offers eight-GPU and four-GPU NVIDIA L40S servers to accelerate training, fine tuning and inference workloads, with powerful performance to build and deploy AI models.

In addition, ASUS is one of only a handful NVIDIA OVX server system providers in the world, and we development our own innovative AI LLM technology deliver comprehensive and true generative-AI solutions. Learn more about ASUS L40S solutions.

Today, AMD announced Amazon Web Services (AWS) has expanded its 4th Gen AMD EPYC processor-based offerings with the general availability of Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) M7a and Amazon EC2 Hpc7a instances, which offer next-generation performance and efficiency for applications that benefit from high performance, high throughput and tightly coupled HPC workloads, respectively.

"For customers with increasingly complex and compute-intensive workloads, 4th Gen EPYC processor-powered Amazon EC2 instances deliver a differentiated offering for customers," said David Brown, vice president of Amazon EC2 at AWS. "Combined with the power of the AWS Nitro System, both M7a and Hpc7a instances allow for fast and low-latency internode communications, advancing what our customers can achieve across our growing family of Amazon EC2 instances."

The global server market, grappling with the impact of worldwide inflation, saw significant shifts in 2023. Server OEMs and CSPs revamped their investment strategies, resulting in cutbacks in both annual shipments and ODM production plans. TrendForce observes that as the server market continues to decline, demand for AI surges. These combined factors have had a domino effect, compressing the rollout of new server platforms across the board.

Forecasts predict that this year's shipments of server motherboards are expected to decline by a market of 6~7%. Concurrently, shipments of whole servers aren't faring much better, with a projected decrease of 5~6%.

IBASE Technology Inc. (TPEx: 8050), a global leader in network appliances and embedded solutions, proudly announces the release of the INA8505 enterprise 1U edge server. Powered by the Intel Xeon D-2700 processor and offering versatile connectivity options, this state-of-the-art appliance is specifically designed to excel in demanding 5G Open vRAN & MEC applications such as real-time data analytics, autonomous vehicles, and smart city deployments. It enables full control over resource allocation in the RAN and MEC, and has the potential to seamlessly integrate AI capabilities to dynamically optimize network performance in real time at the edge of the 5G network infrastructure.

The INA8505 delivers unmatched performance, scalability, and efficiency with flexible storage, offering two SATA/NVMe 2.5" HDD/SSD slots, 2x M.2 (M-key) SATA/PCI-E storage slots, and one 16 GB/32 GB/64 GB eMMC. With an FHFL PCI-E (x16) Gen 4 (supports 75 W) and an FHFL PCI-E (x8) Gen 4 (supports 75 W) configurable as PCI-E (x16) Gen 4 double FHFL (supports 120 W), the INA8505 adapts effortlessly into different network environments and meet future demands for increased scalability. It boasts a rich array of I/O connectivity options, including a VGA port from BMC (Aspeed 2600, IPMI 2.0 support), two USB2.0 Type-A ports, an RJ45 console port, and four 25 GbE SFP28 ports, ensuring enhanced adaptability to various connectivity needs.

Today, the Lenovo ThinkSystem SR675 V3 was featured on stage at SIGGRAPH as an NVIDIA OVX server that will soon include the newly announced NVIDIA L40S GPUs. These servers will help professionals worldwide advance AI and bring generative AI applications like intelligent chatbots, search, and summarization tools to users across industries.

"Lenovo is the leading provider of omniverse and OVX in the cloud and on prem," said Kirk Skaugen, President of Lenovo Infrastructure Solutions Group. "With the Lenovo ThinkSystem SR675 V3 powered by the new NVIDIA L40S GPU, Lenovo is further extending our omniverse leadership into generative AI, helping businesses implement next generation AI, immersive metaverse simulations, and cognitive decisions at scale."

GIGABYTE Technology: The latest MLPerf Training v3.0 benchmark results are out, and the GIGABYTE G593-SD0 server has emerged as a leader in this round of testing. Going head-to-head against impressive systems, GIGABYTE's servers secured top positions in various categories, showcasing their prowess in handling real-world machine learning use cases. With an unparalleled focus on performance, efficiency, and reliability, GIGABYTE has once again proven its commitment to driving progress in the field of AI.

GIGABYTE, one of the founding members of MLCommons, has been actively contributing to the organization's efforts in designing and planning systems to benchmark fairly. Understanding the importance of replicating real-world scenarios in AI development, GIGABYTE's collaboration with MLCommons has been instrumental in shaping the benchmark tasks to encompass critical use cases such as image recognition, object detection, speech-to-text, natural language processing, and recommendation engines. By actively engaging with end applications, GIGABYTE ensures that its servers are designed to meet the highest standards, delivering supreme performance, and facilitating meaningful comparisons between different ML systems.

Flexibility with a server rack? With customizable depth, the Alphacool ES 19" Open Frame Server Rack delivers a mobile and modular solution for server systems. Made of sturdy steel, it not only provides secure carrying capacity for server units, it is also effortless to move thanks to the included casters.

Due to the variable depth from 59 cm up to 104 cm (23 - 40.9 inch) of the open frame rack, server units can be installed in a space-saving way. The standard-compliant mounting holes allow easy installation of the individual units. The server rack can be moved effortlessly with the help of the 360° rotating castors.

Microsoft Corp. today announced the following results for the quarter ended June 30, 2023, as compared to the corresponding period of last fiscal year:

• Revenue was $56.2 billion and increased 8% (up 10% in constant currency)
• Operating income was $24.3 billion and increased 18% (up 21% in constant currency)
• Net income was $20.1 billion and increased 20% (up 23% in constant currency)
• Diluted earnings per share was $2.69 and increased 21% (up 23% in constant currency)

"Organizations are asking not only how - but how fast - they can apply this next generation of AI to address the biggest opportunities and challenges they face - safely and responsibly," said Satya Nadella, chairman and chief executive officer of Microsoft. "We remain focused on leading the new AI platform shift, helping customers use the Microsoft Cloud to get the most value out of their digital spend, and driving operating leverage."

Solidigm over the weekend announced the Solidigm D5-P5336 line of enterprise SSDs. The company earns bragging rights for having the highest capacity among production SSDs, with these coming in capacities of up to 61.44 TB—an incredible amount of storage that HDDs have yet to catch up to. These drives are targeted at the data-center, where they not just replace HDDs due to their sheer density, but also provide the advantage of responsive flash storage. The drives aren't gunning to top SSD performance charts, the design goal is simply capacity and reliability. The D5-P5336 series feature enterprise-grade QLC NAND flash memory that's been extensively tested for reliability and write endurance.

The Solidigm D5-P5336 series comes in three data-center relevant form-factors—15 mm-thick U.2, 7.5 mm-thick E3.S, and the E1.L (ruler) form-factor. Capacities start at 7.68 TB for the U.2 and E3.S models, and 15.36 TB for the E1.L. The maximum capacity on offer is 61.44 TB for the U.2 and E1.L form-factors, and 30.72 TB for the E3.S. Among the capacity variants are 15.36 TB, 30.72 TB, and 61.44 TB. The drives use a proprietary controller that takes advantage of the PCI-Express 4.0 x4 host interface, and NVMe 1.4c protocol. The star attraction, however, is the 192-layer 3D QLC NAND flash memory made in-house by Solidigm.

AIC has launched the new high-availability storage server HA401-TU, which is optimized for mission-critical, enterprise-level storage applications. This cluster-in-a-box solution with active-active failover design and eliminates single points of failure. HA401-TU is a 4U high-availability (HA) server with 2 controller nodes and supports 24 3.5" SAS 12 Gb/s drives. Each controller node is equipped with an AIC Tucana server board that is powered by dual 3rd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors and Intel C621A chipset, which supports UPI speed up to 11.2 GT/s. HA401-TU provides enterprise users with a number of crucial benefits. The redundant hardware components ensure that there is no single point of failure.

With the hot-swappable functionality, the controller canisters protect enterprises from the loss of revenue that can occur when access to mission-critical data or applications is disrupted. Both controller nodes process data input/output (I/O) operations and users can experience simultaneous and balanced access to logical devices. In the event of failover, the secondary node will automatically take over the devices, client connections and all the processes and services running in the system. This high-availability design significantly enhances the overall performance of clusters, enabling seamless handling of demanding workloads.

Supermicro, Inc., a Total IT Solution Provider for Cloud, AI/ML, Storage, and 5G/Edge, is announcing several new servers to its already broad application optimized product line. These new servers incorporate the new AmpereOne CPU, with up to 192 single-threaded cores and up to 4 TB of memory capacity. Applications such as databases, telco edge, web servers, caching services, media encoding, and video gaming streaming will benefit from increased cores, faster memory access, higher performance per watt, scalable power management, and the new cloud security features. Additionally, Cloud Native microservice based applications will benefit from the lower latencies and power usage.

"Supermicro is expanding our customer choices by introducing these new systems that incorporate the latest high core count CPUs from Ampere Computing," said Michael McNerney, vice president of Marketing and Security, Supermicro. "With high core counts, predictable latencies, and up to 4 TB of memory, users will experience increased performance for a range of workloads and lower energy use. We continue to design and deliver a range of environmentally friendly servers that give customers a competitive advantage for various applications."

Phanteks is excited to announce the launch of the Enthoo Pro 2 Server Edition, designed to deliver unparalleled performance and versatility. With innovative features like Phanteks "High-performance Fabric" and a spacious interior, the Enthoo Pro 2 Server Edition can accommodate any high-end configuration whether its SSI-EEB motherboards, extreme water cooling, or extensive storage requirements.

With support for both consumer and server grade hardware, the Enthoo Pro 2 Server Edition enables the seamless integration of diverse components, allowing users to build a cost-efficient server system that meets their specific requirements. The Pro 2 Server Edition expands support for more PCIe devices, accommodating server-grade hardware and providing exceptional cooling options for optimal performance. The additional left side fan bracket provides additional direct cooling for the most extreme server builds.

A BioWare Austin developer is openly discussing the transfer of their long-running "Star Wars: The Old Republic" MMORPG to an external studio—games news sites picked up on insider information earlier this month alleging that the studio and its parent company (EA) were holding meetings with Broadsword Online Games. An EA spokesperson responded to the leak (at the time) and explained: "We're evaluating how we give the game and the team the best opportunity to grow and evolve, which includes conversations with Broadsword, a boutique studio that specializes in delivering online, community-driven experiences. Our goal is to do what is best for the game and its players." It seems that the involved parties have agreed upon terms for "handing off" responsibilities, according to a developer's recent declarations.

Keith Kanneg - the Executive producer for Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) - has this week provided a comprehensive update about future plans on the game's discussion board: "Appreciate your patience with us as we continue to navigate the future shift of SWTOR's development team to a third party studio. We're working through the changes right now so I'll share with you the details I have. With 7.3 now live, our priority is continuing to prepare for Game Updates 7.3.1 and 7.4 along with planning for 2024 and 2025 with a focus on content and continued modernization initiatives." It is interesting that Broadsword is not named or directly referred to.

TrendForce reports that explosive growth in generative AI applications like chatbots has spurred significant expansion in AI server development in 2023. Major CSPs including Microsoft, Google, AWS, as well as Chinese enterprises like Baidu and ByteDance, have invested heavily in high-end AI servers to continuously train and optimize their AI models. This reliance on high-end AI servers necessitates the use of high-end AI chips, which in turn will not only drive up demand for HBM during 2023~2024, but is also expected to boost growth in advanced packaging capacity by 30~40% in 2024.

TrendForce highlights that to augment the computational efficiency of AI servers and enhance memory transmission bandwidth, leading AI chip makers such as Nvidia, AMD, and Intel have opted to incorporate HBM. Presently, Nvidia's A100 and H100 chips each boast up to 80 GB of HBM2e and HBM3. In its latest integrated CPU and GPU, the Grace Hopper Superchip, Nvidia expanded a single chip's HBM capacity by 20%, hitting a mark of 96 GB. AMD's MI300 also uses HBM3, with the MI300A capacity remaining at 128 GB like its predecessor, while the more advanced MI300X has ramped up to 192 GB, marking a 50% increase. Google is expected to broaden its partnership with Broadcom in late 2023 to produce the AISC AI accelerator chip TPU, which will also incorporate HBM memory, in order to extend AI infrastructure.