X-Gene 3 Processor Underscores Readiness for Next-Generation Data Centers

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — March 8, 2017 — MACOM Connectivity Solutions, LLC ("MACOM"), today announced the sampling of its third generation 16-nanometer FinFET Server-on-a-Chip® (SoC) solution, X-Gene® 3. Launched in November 2016 the X-Gene 3 SoC is the industry’s first ARMv8-A compatible processor that matches comparable x86 processors in CPU throughput, per-thread performance and power efficiency, while offering advantages in memory bandwidth and total cost of ownership. Key test results were released by The Linley Group in a white paper that can be accessed here.

The third-generation design features microarchitecture improvements, making it the most powerful ARM CPU available today. It features 32 ARMv8-A 64-bit cores operating at speeds up to 3.0 GHz, eight DDR4-2667 memory channels with ECC and RAS supporting up to 16 DIMMs and addressing up to 1TB of memory and 42 PCIe Gen 3 lanes with eight controllers. The processor is expected to have a performance that is up to six times that of the currently shipping X-Gene family of products.

To assist customers, MACOM has developed reference platforms for X-Gene 3 that support the full memory capacity, as well as several PCIe and SATA ports, other standard I/O and an AST2500 board-management controller (BMC) for platform management. The reference platform ships with the AMI AptioV UEFI BIOS and the industry standard CentOS server operating system.

“We are excited to announce that the X-Gene 3 performance and power measurements are exceeding our expectations,” said Kumar Sankaran, associate vice president of software and platform engineering for MACOM’s newly acquired compute business from AppliedMicro.

“With two products in production and a third on the way, X-Gene has already built a strong ecosystem that competitors have yet to match,” said Linley Gwennap, principal analyst, The Linley Group. “X-Gene 3 can handle a broad range of cloud workloads, including scale-up and scale-out applications. The processor excels on big data, particularly in-memory databases, because of its high memory bandwidth. With X-Gene 3, ARM is ready for the cloud.”

“We’re seeing unprecedented demand for the X-Gene 3 evaluation platforms from our customers in all geographies and welcome the opportunity to sample it to them to allow for further evaluation of the technology,” said Parag Jain, associate vice president of processor products for the compute business unit of MACOM.

X-Gene 3 is now shipping to select customers. For more information, visit MACOM at booth no. C19 at OCP U.S. Summit, Wednesday, March 8 – Thursday, March 9, in Santa Clara where we will be showing live demonstrations.

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MACOM is a new breed of analog semiconductor company—one that delivers a unique combination of high growth, diversification and high profitability. We are enabling a better-connected and safer world by delivering breakthrough semiconductor technologies for optical, wireless and satellite networks that satisfy society’s insatiable demand for information.

Today, MACOM powers the infrastructure that millions of lives and livelihoods depend on every minute to communicate, transact business, travel, stay informed and be entertained. Our technology increases the speed and coverage of the mobile Internet and enables fiber optic networks to carry previously unimaginable volumes of traffic to businesses, homes and data centers.

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MACOM is a pillar of the semiconductor industry, thriving for more than 60 years of daring to change the world for the better through bold technological strokes that deliver true competitive advantage to customers and superior value to investors.

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