Now that Cisco’s UCS X -Sequence launch is behind us, I needed to debate the tenets that formed the product structure of UCS X- Sequence. It has been greater than decade since Cisco launched our UCS platform, a newcomer into the well-established enterprise server market. Relaxation is historical past. What has modified since then?

Shift in the direction of Heterogenous Computing

The earlier decade of computing was all about convergence. Protocol maturity of SAS & Fibre Channel  made them the goal to get converged on the ever present Ethernet material. Knowledge storage entry occasions in milliseconds have been the state-of-the-art.  CPU cores have been the primary execution ingredient. As the last decade progressed, storage protocols akin to NVMeoF began changing the normal SAS/FC.   With little or no protocol overhead over native gadget latencies of SSD, information entry transitioned from milliseconds to microseconds and decrease.

Whereas Moore’s regulation and optimized algorithmic programming is shortening the software program execution occasions, placement of knowledge is essential to derive most profit. Core explosion is going on, however feeds AKA interconnect is sluggish to evolve.   All of that is placing stress on the general-purpose homogeneous computing mannequin, the place a CPU core is on the heart of all the things.  Software programmers’ quest for working on the absolute best {hardware} is main @macro stage,  rising use of hybrid cloud computing. Then again, @micro stage, there’s a paradigm shift taking place from homogeneous computing to heterogeneous computing. Heterogeneous computing depends on Workload optimized compute islands akin to AI/ML accelerators, accelerated computing, storage computing & reminiscence pool with conventional CPU cores working a part of utility.

Architectural Problem

This brings challenges on how you can construct a environment friendly structure with such a divergent compute wants additionally being prepared for  necessities which might be troublesome to foretell prematurely?  What material decisions will deal with IO latencies from milliseconds to nano seconds?  Ought to there be one material or multi material structure?  The “X” within the Cisco UCS X-Sequence has been designed to fulfill the current computing wants in addition to evolving use instances & past.

Moreover IO interconnects, class main Important statistics akin to energy, thermal efficiency & superior blade quantity units  UCS X- Sequence  other than competitors. Proper sizing  these elements with out sacrificing the compute density and future  energy scaling was a problem that required iterative course of.  Formfactor is sticky throughout the lifetime of the chassis whereas the structure should be agile to accommodate altering compute wants.

UCS X-Sequence is not only a {hardware} product launch.  As an example, how does one provision & handle these divergent sources, whereas permitting for enough debuggability? Product success depends upon abstracting away the underlying complexity to offer a easy interface for the tip customers. Cloud managed -Cisco Intersight administration platform is the important thing ingredient of this UCS X-Sequence structure bringing  within the much-required simplicity.

Within the subsequent publish, we’ll delve into key traits that drove electromechanical elements  of UCS X- Sequence platform.

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