ARM server vendors provide porting x86 code cloud services

The ARM processor is used primarily for smartphones, but through the services provided by Boston companies, developers can put existing x86 applications on ARM servers and then test applications through cloud services.

Boston also works with software company Ellexus to help developers migrate their code to arm servers, and Boston provides four-core ARM processors through the cloud to test porting past code. This allows the enterprise no longer need to buy arm servers to test the code.

"We are not targeting users who want to host services (Web or email) in the cloud, but to companies or software developers who need access to arm servers (with development libraries and analytics tools)," Apostolos Lambrianides, director of Marketing, Boston company, said. Help them migrate to arm. ”

ARM processors are widely used in smartphones and tablets, but there is growing interest in using ARM processors in servers to handle search and social media-related mass internet traffic. The arm kernel is typically less power consuming than the x86 server processor and is therefore considered a more efficient way to handle Web requests. But arm is virtually non-existent in the server market, and most server software development is for x86 processors, such as Intel's Xeon or AMD's Opteron.

Enterprises with a cautious attitude towards the arm server, because there are still a lot of hardware and software problems to be resolved. The arm kernel has only 32-bit addressing capabilities, while the x86 processor is 64-bit, which allows for greater memory and storage support. The ARM server cannot interoperate with the x86 chip, so it needs to have a separate infrastructure in the data center, which in turn means that the enterprise needs to make additional investments. Another problem is the lack of a software ecosystem, but the Boston company hopes to solve the problem with its new services.

Boston is one of the few companies selling arm servers. HP and Dell, the top server manufacturer, are providing experimental arm servers to help customers test code and standards. The arm's chief executive, Warren East, said in a recent interview that he expects the arm server market to develop in 2014.

ARM has launched 64-bit processors-cortex-a57 and CORTEX-A53, which are based on the ARMV8 64-bit architecture.

Boston saw the challenge of its career in overthrowing the dominance of the x86 processor, but the company believes arm has great potential in the server market. Some software companies have started to engage with Boston companies on viridis arm servers to begin porting their software.

Lambrianides said: "Many of these companies are not like upfront investment in the purchase and management of our services, which is the need for cloud solutions, this service is to address this demand." ”

Boston provides access to the four core Energycore chips from Calxeda (with Arm's CORTEX-A9 processor) through the cloud, which also has network, I/O, and other components, and Calxeda will release 64-bit ARM chips in the future.

Rosemary Francis, managing director of Ellexus Company, says that if code is written in a way that facilitates porting and has the necessary tools, porting x86 code to arm is a very simple thing to do.

Many tools, such as applications and libraries, are built into the latest Linux distributions, such as Fedora and Ubuntu, Francis says. However, if there is a problem, Ellexus's Breeze program can help resolve scripting and tool issues, primarily by tracking all programs to extract file dependencies and mitigation settings.

More and more software is beginning to support arm, perhaps the most well-known to several Linaro, the arm-supported enterprise is responsible for developing open source software for ARM processors, including drivers, tools and graphical interfaces. The software eventually entered the Linux distribution. ARM has supported the OpenStack cloud operating system. Companies such as Cloudera, Citrix and Oracle are developing a ARM64 version of their software, and Oracle is developing its Java standard version of the 64-bit ARM version. (邹铮 Compilation)

(Responsible editor: The good of the Legacy)