雖然還未提供細節(jié)，但英特爾(Intel)已披露下一代服務器處理器的開發(fā)計劃，證實了最近幾星期以來業(yè)界人士的猜測：這家x86巨擘正在將新一代互連整合到未來的 Xeon 和 Atom 服務器處理器中，以滿足從超級計算機到微型服務器在內(nèi)的多種應用。 上周，超微(AMD)也發(fā)布了來自并購新創(chuàng)公司所獲得的 Freedom Fabric 技術。 AMD期望讓這種互連技術成為服務器CPU的業(yè)界標準，甚至可用在新興的ARM-based服務器SoC上。 互連(Interconnects)──有時也稱之為fabrics──意思是用來連接大量服務器中的數(shù)百至數(shù)千顆處理器的關鍵技術。它們被用在全球最強大的超級計算機、大型云端運算資料中心、微型服務器，以及Web服務器之中。 自去年起，英特爾陸續(xù)收購了三家公司──今年四月，英特爾以1.4億美元收購Cray公司的互連部門；一月份以1.25億美元收購QLogic公司的Infiniband芯片業(yè)務；去年七月則收購Fulcrum，收購價并未披露。在這三椿收購之后，業(yè)界都認為，英特爾即將大舉進軍互連領域了。 “我們正在將收購而來的相關技術整合到處理器的開發(fā)中，”英特爾技術運算部門總經(jīng)理Raj Hazra說?！拔覀冋J為，就像一些業(yè)界人士所說的，這種整合可能會在這個十年內(nèi)提早發(fā)生，而且可能會整合到exscale超級計算機中?！? 全新英特爾互連的目標之一，是進一步拓展應用層面。在低階領域，它可以用在微型服務器，連接成千上百個運作速率在數(shù)十GB/s，延遲少于1,000ns的處理器。而在高階市場，它可用來連接數(shù)百到上千個速率達數(shù)百GB/s，延遲少于數(shù)十ns的處理器。 英特爾的互連技術將用在 , Xeon Phi 和 Atom 等服務器處理器之中。目前尚不清楚英特爾何時公布最新的互連和CPU應用等信息，但很有可能會在本周的開發(fā)者論壇(IDF)上宣布。 “我們還未完成路線圖的規(guī)劃，”Hazra說。 在英特爾內(nèi)部，定義互連這項工作似乎也加入了來自軟件公司和系統(tǒng)整合商的協(xié)助?！拔覀儞碛袕姶蟮能浖鷳B(tài)系統(tǒng)，”他說。 該技術很可能會在英特爾用于其專用處理器總線的現(xiàn)有 Quick Path Interconnect 上再加入一組新的功能層。該技術可以使用現(xiàn)有的以太網(wǎng)絡、 Infiniband ，以及目前被提議作為英特爾競爭標準、針對ARM服務器SoC的RapidIO。 “我們已經(jīng)看到了所有潛在解決方案，以及自己的優(yōu)缺點，” Hazra說。 英特爾的合作伙伴SeaMicro在今年初被AMD收購?！拔覀冎浪麄兊幕ミB技術，他們的技術對微型服務器相當有吸引力，但我不大清楚他們之后的進展或變化，”他說。 本文授權編譯自EE Times，版權所有，謝絕轉載 編譯： Joy Teng 參考英文原文：Intel preps interconnect for server CPUs ，by Rick Merritt

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{pagination} Intel preps interconnect for server CPUs Rick Merritt SAN JOSE, Calif. – Intel Corp. is not providing details, but it has disclosed plans that confirm industry speculation of recent weeks: The x86 giant is developing a next-generation interconnect it will integrate in future Xeon and Atom server processors addressing a range of uses from supercomputers to microservers. The news is timed to compete with an announcement later on Monday (Sept. 10) from Advanced Micro Devices about the Freedom Fabric it acquired with startup SeaMicro. AMD is expected to try to make that interconnect an industry standard for its server CPUs, and probably those of emerging ARM-based server SoCs. Interconnects--sometimes called fabrics--are key to linking tens to hundreds of thousands of processors in a broad range of servers. They are used in everything from the world’s most powerful supercomputers to large cloud computing data centers and microservers, dense chassis packed with processors generally used as Web servers. The industry has been anticipating an Intel move into interconbnects after three recent acquisitions. In April, Intel bought an interconnect group from Cray for $140 million. In January, it acquired the Infiniband chip business of QLogic for $125 million, and in July 2011 it bought Fulcrum for an undisclosed sum. “We are putting a salable fabric into the processor using the assets we have with our recent acquisitions,” said Raj Hazra, general manager of Intel’s technical computing group. “We think this integration happens much sooner than end of decade as some people have suggested, tying it to exascale supercomputers,” he said. The new Intel interconnect aims to cover the waterfront in applications. At the low end, it could be used in microservers to link a hundred or more processors at tens of GBytes/second with latencies of less than 1,000 nanoseconds. At the high end, it ultimately will scale up to linking hundreds of thousands of processors at hundreds of GBytes/second at latencies measured in tens of nanoseconds. The interconnect will appear in Xeon, Xeon Phi and Atom processors geared for such servers. It’s not clear when Intel will relesase details of the new interconnect and CPUs using it, although some details may emerge from this week’s Intel Developer Forum. “We haven’t finished the road map planning,” said Hazra. Most of the work defining the interconnect appears to be going on inside Intel with the help of a few software companies and systems integrators. “We have strong software ecosystem,” he said. The technology likely will emerge as a set of new capabilities layered on to the exsiting Quick Path Interconnect Intel uses as its proprietary processor bus. The technology may use elements of existing Ethernet, Infiniband and proprietary interconnects inclouding RapidIO, now being proposed as a competing standard for ARM server SoCs. “We’ve looked at all the potential solutions and their pros and cons,” Hazra said. Intel collaborated with SeaMicro on the startup's Atom- and Xeon-based server designs until AMD bought the startup earlier this year. “We know what their fabric was and it was interesting for a microserver class products line, but I have no idea where it has evolved,” he said.