Supermicro Unveils High-Density MicroCloud Cloud Servers

The new MicroCloud SYS-5037MC-H8TRF is the first in a series of blade server platforms which will eventually support up to 32 nodes in a single system for high-density cloud computing, said Charles Liang, president, CEO, and chairman of the Fremont, Calif.-based system builder.

The new MicroCloud server is only a part of Supermicro's new focus on the cloud, Liang said. The company is currently in the process of opening a new business park in Taiwan for integrating servers for the cloud, high performance computing, data center, and storage markets, he said.

The first of four buildings is slated to be finished by December, with a total of 1.6 million square feet eventually planned to support Supermicro's integration plans, Liang said. "We understand cloud computing, including servers and storage, needs highly optimized manufacturing," he said.

Supermicro's new MicroCloud server, which was unveiled at the Computex exhibition currently being held in Taiwan, fits up to eight hot-pluggable nodes in a 3U chassis.

Each node supports a single Intel Xeon processor E3-1200, two 3.5-inch hot-swap 6-Gbps SATA hard drives, a PCIe low-profile slot, up to 32 GBs of DDR3 ECC memory, two Gbit Ethernet ports, a management port, and two USB 2.0 ports.

The chassis also includes four heavy-duty fans and 1620-Watt, 94-plus-percent power efficiency redundant power supplies, Liang said.

The chassis also supports up to 16 half-sized nodes with lower-powered CPUs of a maximum power consumption of 40 Watts. Within the next six to nine months, Supermicro also plans to add support for up to 32 nodes, each of which supports a processor of up to 15 Watts power consumption, Liang said.

Customers with lower power requirements can also choose a 940-Watt, all digital design power supply with an efficiency rating of between 94 percent and 95 percent, he said.

"We always try to provide customers a choice," he said. "They may need higher performance or higher density."

Supermicro also used Computex to introduce other servers.

The company's new line of GPU SuperServers are coming to market in 1U and 2U formats. The 1U server can be configured with up to four Nvidia GPUs, while the 2U model can be configured with up to six Nvidia GPUs. They support Nvidia CUDA architecture-based Tesla M2050, M2070, and M2090 GPUs for use in compute-intensive high performance computing applications.

Also new is an eight-processor, 5U server which Liang called the highest density server in the world. It can be configured with up to eight 10-core Intel processors, giving a total of up to 160 computing threads, he said.

Supermicro also introduced new 24-port top-of-rack 10-Gbit Ethernet switches.

Supermicro remains focused on working with channel partners through such distributors as Ingram Micro, Tech Data, and ASI, Liang said. The company also directly supports partners with special data center designs, as well as certain OEM partners, he said.