Supermicro and Intel discuss 5G, four mega trends

At a virtual Computex Taiwan event, Charles Liang, founder, president, CEO and chairman of the Board, Supermicro, gave a keynote address on Supermicro’s 5G leadership, edge-to-cloud solutions, and green computing initiatives. He was joined by Navin Shenoy, executive VP and GM, Data Platforms Group at Intel Corp.

Charles Liang said that Supermicro has 5G solutions ready for you. All of our modules and subsystems are shareable. These include networking, CPU, memory and storage. We are able to save R&D time and resources. We are also able to make the customers’ order much quicker.

Six months ago, a very large telecom company asked us to design smart edge solution for 5G. We leveraged our enterprise storage, subsystem, and quickly provided our sample to the customer. Our products are already NFV (network function virtualization) compliant. We shipped the sample quickly. The customer ordered the samples to be shipped quickly. We delivered the solution to the customer within three weeks.

5G has better reach, and is much faster. We have a 5G-ready telco solution that is optimized. We can also work together to make 5G more affordable to everyone. We also provide similar solutions for micro data centers and the large data centers. We will continue to work with the global software ecosystem to provide 5G solutions.

We are talking about smart edge. We also have IP-65 solutions. We have developed these solutions within 3-4 months. We are able to make systems run, durably, in tough weather conditions. We also have a very strong cloud side product for 5G. We even finished the design inside a few months.

Four mega trends

Navin Shenoy, EVP and GM, Data Platforms Group, Intel, said that we are keeping our employees safe and also bringing our collaborations with our customers. Intel and Supermicro have been collaborating for 27 years. We have always pushed each other to innovate. For example, together, we invented one of the first dual-socket Xeon servers back in 2001. Think about how much of the Internet has been built on that dual-socket Xeon server. We also collaborated on the twin architecture, and the half-width motherboard, that has gone on to become an industry standard.

Looking ahead, there are exciting times in the future. These will revolve around four big mega trends. First, the proliferation of computing and cloud architectures, both, in the private cloud and the public cloud. Second, the growth of AI. Third, the rise of the intelligent edge, or, the computing, where the data is being created. Finally, the shift to 5G.

The future is about unleashing the power of the massive amounts of data across the world. At Intel, we are working on the industry's broadest portfolio to help move data, to store data, and to process all that data. From SmartNICs to silicon photonics, to NAND and optane memory, to FPGAs, ASICs, GPUs, and of course, the Xeon MPU. These solutions are going to be in solutions that we collaborate with all of our customers to invent the future.

There is also the shift to e-everything -- e-commerce, e-education, e-video conferencing, and even e-health. This is going to require deeper collaboration with all of our industry partners. With Supermicro, we have been working together in the landscape shift in the telecom industry in 4G and the upcoming 5G. And, the move to vRAN and ORAN.

We are also excited to be working together on HPC. We are particularly grateful to be working with Supermicro on the Movie project and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. There is a solution being designed to bring supercomputing to help fight Covid-19. Together, with Charles Liang at Supermicro, we are going to unleash the power of data around the world.

Broadest portfolio

Charles Liang said that Supermicro wants to save resources for our customers. We also share lot of modules among our resources. The customers are able to save upto 40%. The data center can run power usage effectiveness (PUE) at 1.1 or even 1.06. A lower PUE rating means a more efficient data center.

The CPU/memory can run for 3~5 years, the networking, I/O and storage can run for 3~12 years, and the enclosure/power/cooling can run for 12+ years. We have applied this to all of the equipment for 5G telcos as well. Let's make 5G affordable and available, as soon as possible.

Supermicro has the broadest portfolio of 5G and telco systems for optimized performance. We offer compact 1U servers, short-depth 2U servers, wall mount, compact, mini-ITX edge servers, pole-mounted servers, as well as 2U twin architecture and SuperBlade solutions.

Supermicro recognized early the need for a robust cloud platform to provide network operators with an environment to develop applications and a distributed edge. This is especially important as core 5G network functions will be tightly interwoven with and fueled by public clouds. Supermicro’s next-generation dual-processor CloudDC servers feature multiple storage options in 1U and 2U servers, dual OCP 3.0 compliant AIOM slots for up to four 100GbE ports, support for Open BMC, an all-hybrid backplane design supporting SATA3, SAS3, or NVMe storage drives, and a simplified architecture optimized for hyperscale environments.

Supermicro CloudDC servers offer exceptional value for a multitude of use cases. For the private cloud, CloudDC servers have flexible storage and expansion, NVMe over fabrics, rapid deployment, easy maintenance, and high scalability. In the 5G/telco arena, CloudDC systems are designed to be NEBS Level 3 ready, support O-RAN virtualized network elements such as DU, CU, and core and as well as accommodating FPGA accelerator cards. The platform supports up to four GPU accelerator cards and can process deep learning training and inference, data analytics, graphics, and high-performance computing.

Supermicro announced earlier this year its first-to-market Outdoor Edge Systems. These IP65 enclosure-based servers are optimized for 5G RAN, AI inferencing, and other intelligent edge-focused applications. These new systems support the industry's movement toward open-source software and x86 disaggregated hardware and are ideal for harsh outdoor environments.

Supermicro's innovative products and manufacturing meet the demand for 5G enablement. These include open platforms accommodating multiple configurations to consolidate overall server platforms with AC/DC options, outdoor edge systems that are ruggedized servers for 5G and edge computing in harsh environments. It also has resource-saving architecture that gives the operators the power to build out optimized 5G networks, while minimizing energy consumption and e-waste.