Bamboo Systems are bringing the fledgling marketing of ARM-based servers into the spotlight by developing powerful, scalable servers and having a team of well-known server veterans leading the organization. By utilizing ARM processors in the Bamboo servers, the servers are able to save up to 75% of the power of the competing x86 processors, which is an impressive drop is power utilization given that datacenters used approximately 4% of the worlds power in 2020.
Bamboo’s Arm Offering
As companies are moving more and more software solutions to platforms like Kubernetes ARM servers from Bamboo Systems are going to make more and more sense. While many applications are already offered in an ARM64 variant it is also possible for custom applications to be recompiled to be deployed on systems with ARM processors, most applications can be recompiled and deployed to an ARM solution in just minutes with on code changes; and most of those applications will perform at the same levels as they do today on x86 hardware. For the applications that don’t perform as expected, software which is running on ARM processors can be recompiled with the ARM performance libraries to get additional performance from the application by introducing CPU instructions to the application which are specific to the ARM CPUs as opposed to the instructions which are optimized for x86 CPUs.
The sweet spot that Bamboo Systems sees for themselves in the modern, scalable applications that enterprises are running in large numbers, often numbering in the hundreds or thousands. By moving these applications from x86 to ARM based servers the enterprise can increase density of CPU cores within the rack, reduce acquisition cost or systems, and reduce the power requirements of the servers in the rack.
With traditional x86 processor-based servers, building a cluster of servers with 896 CPU Cores would require 16 1U Servers, with a peak power usage of 14.6KW. By leveraging Bamboo servers and their highly dense ARM processors that rack density can be doubled as Bamboo Solutions can deliver their B1008N servers, which are 1U. Using the B1008N servers only 8 1U server chassis are needed with a peak power consumption of over 3.8KW, a reduction of 74% over the similar x86 servers. This delivery includes the same amount of network bandwidth to the servers (32 ports at 40Gb/s per port), the same amount of RAM (2TB of RAM), and the same amount of NVMe based storage (256TB of Storage). Bamboo Systems can bring this solution to market at just over half the cost of the x86 solution with the x86 solution costing ~$616k (USD) and the Bamboo server solution costing ~$256k (USD).
The Power Savings of Bamboo Arm
In data centers electricity and cooling are the most expensive components for hosting servers. As companies deploy servers with high frequency, low power utilization companies will be able to reduce their power cost by up to two thirds of their existing x86 power costs. The expected costs for running the above 16 server x86 solution come is at $135k (USD) over three years while the power utilization for the Bamboo servers for three years comes in at just $35k (USD). Between the lower cost of entry and the lower power cost to maintain the solution, the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for a Bamboo Solutions power environment is ~61% lower (over three years) then the x86 solution.
All these power savings don’t just come with a financial benefit. These power savings come with a carbon emissions benefit as well. Power usage on a server leads directly to the amount of cooling that the server needs. The amount of cooling and power that a server use lead directly to the amount of carbon emission that is calculated for a solution. A Bamboo server solution using the B1008N blades can deliver a solution which produces ~74% less carbon emissions then an x86 solution.
By switching to a Bamboo Systems server solution using the B1008N blades, a company can help their bottom line, while helping to reduce greenhouse gases that are released into the environment. To understand more about the new Arm offering from Bamboo, be sure to watch their Gestalt IT Showcase video.
