Qualcomm's server silicon has a cloud customer: Packet

Qualcomm looks to have a customer for the Centriq 2400 , the 48-core CPU it's aiming at the server market: the minor cloud player Packet has signed up “to introduce” the architecture to its customers.

Packet bills itself as a cloud for developers and has been running Cavium's 48-core ARMv8-A ThunderX processors since November 2016. Now it's announced that it's going to show up at developer gabfests to show off “a consumable cloud platform, providing access to a series of demonstrations leveraging open source tools such as Ansible, Terraform, Docker and Kubernetes, all running on Qualcomm Datacenter Technologies’ ARM architecture-based servers.”

There's announcement doesn't mention a firm commitment to run the Centriq, but both companies express the usual admiration for each other's complementary offerings. The Register can't imagine what would stop the pair from taking the next step and running a Centriq-powered cloud.

That means the chance to run the cut of Windows Server Microsoft has ported to Centriq. Throw in the fact that Linux is happy running on ARM and things get interesting.

And more interesting again with news that another minor cloud, Scaleway, has thrown some more Cavium ThunderX SoCs packing ARM V8 tech into its cloud. The company's therefore renting 64-core servers at €0.56 an hour, albeit as “a preview as we're still deploying nodes to handle large scale deployments”.

Scaleway's nonetheless declaring the new and larger instances as proof that “ARM is a true alternative for the server market with solution for small and large workloads.”

Here's the instances on offer.

News of Scaleway's and Packet's efforts ends a tough week for Intel, which entered it with Xeon as just about the only CPU worth putting on a cloudy shopping list and ended it with AMD's Epyc seeing the light of day and two clouds contesting for buyers' consideration. All of which can't be bad for customers. ®