Apple has shown that it is fully capable of making the switch from IBM based PowerPC Processors, to Intel based Core-Duo processor without causing too much commotion to their consumer base. With both their laptops and desktops now sporting Intel chips, it is only nature to peer into the future and see what kind of processing power will be put into Apple's Workstations and Server products. For help with these questions I turned to Intel and see what products their have lined up for volume production in the next year.
Intel ventured into multi-core processors in April 2005 when it announced the Intel Pentium processor Extreme Edition. They proved that a Dual-core processors could be built that showed immediate performance boosts similar to SMP (Symmetrical multi-processing) without having to significantly change the motherboard architecture to support SMP. Dual-core processors feature two complete execution cores on a single die running at the same clock speeds. This is made possible by the reduction in the overall size of a single processor. This means new Intel processors are a fraction of the size of predecessor. This not only means a reduction in overall voltage and processor temperature, but a significant boost in performance as well. Dual-core processors are just the first step in what Intel envisions as a stepping stones into a multi-core processing utopia.
"Intel is already working on a multi-core architecture that could eventually feature dozens or even hundreds of processor cores on a single die. Plans are also underway to develop specialized, configurable cores that will deliver optimized performance for some of tomorrow's most critical tasks, such as data mining and advanced image and speech processing."
Intel has already prepared 17 multi-processor core designs for high-volume production.
Along with their family of multi-processor designs, Intel has banked their future on a new set of sub-systems. This will give users better access to the raw computing power inherent in multi-core designs. PCI-E and DDR2 memory are improvements on the existing industrial standard architecture and Intel is expects their influence in power management, software management and virtualization to complete their product offering.
For more information on virtualization software look up: VMware ESX Server*, Microsoft Virtual Server 2005** and Xen***.
* http://www.vmware.com/
** http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtualpc/default.mspx
*** http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/Research/SRG/netos/xen/
Intel will introduce a host of new marketing bliss-Words to the consumer. Here are five technology paradigms Intel will package with their processors:
Hyper-Threading Technology (HT Technology): Makes a single processor act as two virtual processors executing multiple application treads.
Intel Active Management Technology (Intel AMT): Allows IT managers to remotely access a networked PC even when it is off, has no working OS or missing hard drive.
Extended Memory 64 Technology (EM64T): Allows a processor to execute 64bit code, while extending the capacity of both virtual and physical memory.
Intel I/O Acceleration Technology (Intel I/OAT): Tackles network traffic issues by dividing the data handling job more efficiently amongst all system components.
Intel Virtualization Technology: Intel processors can execute multiple virtual operating systems simultaneously. One family member could be using the computer to editing photos, while another family member is simultaneously using Linux to build web pages, all on the same physical machine.
LaGrande Technology (LT): Is a hardware extension that integrates security into Intel’s processors and chipsets, helping to protect software, confidentiality and data stores on a client PC.
But what does all this mean for Apple? What Intel technology will they integrate into their next Intel based workstation and server line? Well here are a few suggestions:
Apple could go for a Low Voltage (LV) variant for cheaper and more economical 1U rack servers. This would mean dual Intel Dual Core Xeon Processor LV (Low Voltage / Low Power) CPUs (31W) up to 2.5GHz, along with up to 16GB DDR2 400 SDRAM, Gigabit Ethernet, PCI-E and PCI-X slots, with support for RAID on dual SATA controllers.
A heavy-duty workstation or server would use Dual Intel Xenon MP processors with up to 8MB of L3 cache. It comes in one of two frequencies, at 2.66GHz, a 667FSB 2x1MB cache, or 3GHz, 800FSB 2x2MB. But these configurations would be similar or inferior to existing Power MAC G5s, that already come with Two dual-core 2.5GHz PowerPC G5 processors, and 1.25GHz FSB per processor, 1MB L2 cache per core, but only 533MHz DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-4200). Overall existing PowerMac systems are very powerful. It would require that Apple standardizes on a minimum of a quad-processors system on a single chips, while providing an eight-way server. However this may take more than a year before Intel is producing quad-core CPUs, and Apple may not want to wait that long for a new PowerMacPro product. If they are looking for immediate performance gains, they may have to look to AMD.
The only option that will outperform the existing G5 servers in both marketing punch and raw processing power is the multi-core Opteron line of processors from AMD. AMD Processors have a better overall system bus than Intel chips - chiefly due to its roots in Digital Alpha processors' Socket A architecture. AMD processors have integrated on the die 128bit DDR memory controllers that change the way the processor accesses main memory. This allows the memory bandwidth to scales with the number of available processors. HyperTransport Technology allows a scalable connection between the motherboard’s sub-systems and peripheral interconnects. Each link provides 8GB/sec meaning consistent bottle-neck free access to PCI-X, DDR, InfiBand and 10G Ethernet. AMD Opteron allows up to 3 coherent HyperTransport links totaling 24GB/sec of bandwidth. Their processors already use 1.2V of power, the low voltage versions (HE) are ideal for 1U rack servers reducing thermal output and making for a quieter systems. Further AMD chips are built using SOI (silicon on insulator) which provides better thermal diffusion and better frequency scaling, meaning more instructions can be executed per clock cycle (IPC).
AMD has already matched Intel’s technology forecasts and provides DDR2, enhanced RAS (Reliability Availability and Serviceability) and Virtualization.
Ultimately Apple’s decision may come down to who can provide the better multi-core capable processor. Apple has already dropped their long standing relationship with IBM PowerPCs for Intel Core-duo processors, and I don’t see why they would stick with Intel, when a more capable line of processors exists. But there may be more to Intel’s product line than number of processors. Apple has shown itself capable of jumping ahead of the market. OSX has already jumped ahead of all Microsoft operating systems, and has been the benchmark of a consumer PC for more than half a decade. They may surprise us yet with a new computing revolution that surpasses existing processing and security requirements.
Touch Screen Mac: This is would be a nice alternative to using the keyboard and mouse, but may require more cleaning than most people are used to.
Support for multiple operating system running at the same time: This is definitely going to be a requirement in the near future. I perceive a most users running OSX while a thin version of Windows Vista is running something you would not try on your Mac. Even better, running Linux or a UNIX variant to provide better integration of Apple’s hardware with broadcast companies that use Sun’s Solaris or SGI visualization systems.
ZFS: We are all in desperate need of a new file system. Sun has been in contact with Apple about adopting their ZFS. A 128-bit file system based on a transactional model, it not only has 16 billion billion times the capacity of existing filing systems, while reducing the number of I/Os to the disk. Disk I/O is the single significant drawback to system performance, especially with 64bit computing systems.
What Apple may try is to combine these technologies in their first Intel based workstation and server offerings, and when new processors become available from Intel, they will integrated them into an ever expanding line of PowerPro solutions.
