AMD Fuels the Cloud-Native Revolution With Chiplet-Based Architectures

Following their Cloud Field Day presentation, Sulagna Saha explores how AMD is leveraging its chiplet-based architecture to support cloud-native solutions. AMD’s innovative approach involves the use of smaller “chiplets” assembled into a new server chip, allowing for flexibility and tailored configuration based on specific product demands. Saha believes this chiplet architecture aligns with the four core tenets of cloud-native—microservices, containerization, continuous delivery, and DevOps—paving the way for the next evolution in cloud computing.


Cloud Field Day 18 – After Action Report

This “after-action report” is a YouTube video featuring a group of Cloud Field Day delegates discussing the presentations and content from our recent event. Organized by Nathan Bennett, these videos give an immediate and unvarnished look at the presentations.


Do Processors Matter in the Cloud?

Keith Townsend delves into the relevance of hardware selection, specifically processors, in cloud services in this LinkedIn article. Noting that although AWS has commoditized the cloud underlay, Townsend argues that processor choice still plays a crucial role, particularly when aiming to optimize cost, performance, and application portability. However, for those firmly invested in a specific Cloud Service Provider or prioritizing avoiding optimization costs at the infrastructure level, the cloud provider’s processor may be the more convenient choice.


AMD With #CFD18 – What’s a Chip Manufacturer Doing in a Cloud Conference?

Nathan Bennett gives an overview of AMD’s presentation on cloud native solutions at Cloud Field Day. AMD discussed the increasing trend towards running solutions within a DPU (Data Processing Unit) in cloud environments. Bennett challenges AMD’s focus, suggesting that the real impact of chipset makers comes from how the tech is tailored and used by individual hyperscalers, stressing the need for customers to pay attention to the broader context of what chip manufacturers are doing.


AMD Leaps Ahead With Zen Architecture Powered EYPC Processors for the Cloud

Allyson Klein’s TechArena report on Cloud Field Day provides a deep dive into AMD’s approach to cloud native computing, focusing on the development of EPYC processors. The review details how AMD’s architectural changes adapt to various computing models – from traditional, to virtual, containerized, and functionized workloads. Klein applauds AMD’s forward-thinking innovation, highlighting their chiplet designs, 3D stacking for higher silicon area, and prioritization of high-performance cores for tenant workloads which could be more beneficial to most enterprises running off-the-shelf code.


AMD Is Doing Great Things at Cloud Field Day 18

In a this post, Eric Wright reviews AMD’s innovations and their impact on cloud applications, particularly focusing on the industry pioneer’s EPYC processors. He praises AMD’s cloud-centric approach, their Dom0 concept for efficient resource offloading, and their chiplet architecture that contributes to system optimization. By delivering high-performance, efficient usage of resources, and maintaining a cost-effective balance, AMD continues to push advancements in cloud technology.


Automation, Analytics, and More at Cloud Field Day 18

Announcing Cloud Field Day, streaming live next week! This event is broadcast live on LinkedIn and the Tech Field Day website, and includes presentations from Juniper Networks, Mezmo, Prosimo, and AMD on Wednesday and VMware, WEKA, and Fortinet on Thursday, focusing on automation, data center analytics, and telemetry. Join the conversation about cloud-native networking, application migration, and monitoring strategies during the sessions on October 18th and 19th!


Modernizing Aging Legacy Systems Without Cost Creep With AMD

This article by Sulagna Saha explores AMD’s VMware Architecture Migration Tool (VAMT) developed in collaboration with VMware. Addressing the critical need for seamless infrastructure upgrades to evade the “technical debt” of legacy systems, VAMT is a comprehensive tool that offers a swift, efficient, and automated approach to cold migration of machines between different architecture types. By automating the entire migration life cycle and providing customized control over migration tasks, VAMT represents a remarkable solution to drive the modernization of enterprise infrastructure with minimal disruption.


TFDx With AMD: More Than Just a Bag of Chips! (Part2)

AMD presented their VMware Architecture Migration Tool (VAMT), a VM migration and disaster recovery toolkit developed in partnership with VMware. The open-source tool, initially designed to automate the replatforming of VMs to AMD EPYC, also supports any migration between x86-to-x86 architecture, making it valuable for disaster recovery and general data resilience strategy. The tool’s key features include the automation of powering up and down of VMs, their movement to new locations, and clean-up after migration, thereby streamlining migration tasks and ensuring efficient applications functioning. In this article, Matt Tyrer shares his impression of VAMT following their Tech Field Day presentation at VMware Explore 2023.


AMD Faster, Cheaper, and Greener Than Intel and ARM CPUs, Says AMD

Curtis Preston revisits AMD’s presentation at Tech Field Day Extra at VMware Explore and discusses AMD’s EPYC CPU outperforming most Intel CPUs – offering greater speed for less cost. The power efficiency of AMD CPUs particularly caught his attention as they deliver equivalent, if not better, performance whilst consuming less power, making them a sustainable and cost-effective choice. Despite competition from ARM, Preston’s conversation with Jason Collier revealed AMD’s resilience in the cloud-native space and he recommends that those building servers consider AMD for a faster, cheaper and greener option.


TFDx With AMD: More Than Just a Bag of Chips!

Matt Tyrer attended the Tech Field Day Extra presentations at VMware Explore, and discusses AMD’s latest developments in AI and sustainability. The company is focusing on finding a balance between meeting the heavy compute demands of AI and other emerging technologies while maintaining sustainability and efficiency. With their latest generation of EPYC processors, AMD is striving to deliver high-level performance while reducing the resource consumption required to support it.


Things Are Heating Up for Tech Field Day Extra at VMware Explore

We are thrilled to be returning to VMware Explore for 2023 and will be hosting Tech Field Day sessions featuring insights from VMware and AMD. We look forward to a deep dive into VMware NSX in the cloud on Tuesday and a special session from AMD on Wednesday examining their latest data center products, virtualization, and edge portfolio. Don’t miss our exciting lineup of interviews, videos, and Tech Field Day content that will delve into enterprise technology trends and solutions.


Gaming Is Driving Storage Innovation at WDC

Western Digital has long been a stalwart in the storage industry, designing storage media and innovating in that space for decades. At Storage Field Day, the provided updates on how a lot of their designs are catering toward hyperscale companies, or how the emergence of 5G will ramp up the need for faster performance with streaming video. But for Ray Lucchesi, what stood out in the session was how gaming was increasingly driving innovation with Western Digital. As a result of high performance needs, both of gamers to play games and for services that host them, WD detailed innovations with their WD Black line, which includes HDD, but is increasingly featuring SSDs. The showed how they are catering these drives to the unique requirements and environment found in gaming PCs.


Top 5 Takeaways From #SFD19 Day 1

One of the great things about Field Day events is that they are live streamed on the internet, expanding our pool of delegates from the dozen individuals in the room to a much wider audience. We always love to hear people’s impression from the live stream, and Jason Benedicic has a great write up with his takeaways from our recent Storage Field Day event. For Jason, the event showed the breadth of quality engineering talent from across the world, showed NetApp’s exciting solutions with Active IQ and StorageGRID, and demonstrated that spinning disks aren’t dead yet. Be sure to check out all his thoughts in this post, and if you’ve watched the Storage Field Day presentations, why not share your big takeaways as well!