Roundup: New chip from ARM, Level 3, Nimbus

Here’s our review of some of this week’s noteworthy links for the data center industry:

ARM announces Cortex-A15 MPCore processor.  ARM announced the availability of a high performance, power-optimized quad-core hard macro implementation of its flagship ARM Cortex-A15 MPCore processor.   The new processor uses a 28nm process and delivers an extremely competitive balance of performance and power and is ideal for wide array of high-performance computing applications for such as notebooks through to power-efficient, extreme performance-orientated network and enterprise devices.  The new A-15 was announced in Yokohama, Japan at COOL Chips XV, the IEEE Symposium on Low-Power and High-Speed Chips. “For SoC designers looking to make a trade-off between the flexibility offered by the traditional RTL-based SoC development strategy and a rapid time to market, with ensured, benchmarked power, performance and area, an ARM hard macro implementation is an ideal, cost-effective solution,” said Jim Nicholas, vice president of Marketing, processor division, ARM. “This new Cortex-A15 hard macro is an important addition to our portfolio and will enable a wider array of partners to leverage the outstanding capabilities of the Cortex-A15 processor.”

Level 3 to supply public services network for UK Government.  Level 3 Communications (LVLT) announced that it has been named as one of the strategic suppliers to the new PSN Connectivity Framework, the UK Government's procurement channel for public sector agencies wishing to buy certified communications and encryption services. Consisting of a range of Local and Wide Area Networking services, the framework has been designed to suit the varying capacity, security and performance needs of public sector departments and agencies. "Winning a place on the framework is a significant achievement and testament to the performance and reliability of Level 3's IP-VPN solution and support of the UK government," said Jeff Parris, senior vice president of public sector sales for Level 3. "As an existing GCN service provider and certified IP-VPN supplier, we have been deeply committed to PSN since its inception. We were one of the first to receive certification for our services last summer and were also responsible for the first PSN deployment through the Pathway Project, an initiative that saw Kent and Hampshire County Councils link up to the PSN."

Nimbus Flash attains Citrix Ready Certification.  Nimbus Data Systems announced that all Nimbus flash memory systems, including the performance-leading S-Class and the ultra-scalable E-Class, are now Citrix Ready certified. Nimbus S-Class and E-Class systems enable enterprise-wide virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) with unmatched performance, superior reliability, and dramatically lower power, rack space, and administration costs. With ultra-low latency and scalability up to 500 TB in an all-flash system Nimbus offers an alternative to hybrid SSD/HDD or caching/tiering designs.  “Delivering the necessary IOps for a successful VDI deployment using disk arrays would require a significant number of spindles, increasing acquisition and operating costs,” stated Russ Fellows, Senior Partner at The Evaluator Group. “Nimbus all-flash storage systems deliver very high IO performance in a small footprint, improving scalability while significantly reducing operating costs. This translates into a lower storage cost per virtual desktop, an essential goal in maximizing ROI.”