The News: HPE announced that it is planning to deliver a new line of cloud-native compute solutions using processors from Ampere. The new HPE solutions are designed to provide operators and enterprises embracing cloud native development with an agile, extensible, and trusted compute foundation to potentially drive innovation. Available in Q3 2022, the new HPE ProLiant RL300 Gen11 server is the first in a series of HPE ProLiant RL Gen 11 servers developed to deliver next-generation compute performance with higher power efficiency. Read the HPE Press Release here.
HPE Discover 2022: HPE Amperes Up New ProLiant RL300 Gen11 Servers
Analyst Take: HPE shrewdly used its HPE Discover 2022 event to highlight its alliance with Ampere by unveiling its new HPE ProLiant RL300 Gen11 server that uses Ampere Altra and Ampere Altra Max cloud native processors. Out of the gate, HPE is emphasizing the high performance and power efficiency advances the new HPE ProLiant is designed to deliver through new capabilities such as providing a single socket that supports up to 128 cores per socket for flexible scale-out compute.
HPE is targeting the new ProLiant servers at service providers and digital-first enterprises that offer media streaming, social platforms, digital services, ecommerce, and cloud-based services such as IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS. To meet these needs, new HPE ProLiant server supports predictable performance using Ampere’s single-thread cores with constant clock speed. To support flexible management, HPE is providing HPE Integrated Lights Out (iLO) for traditional server management and Linux-based OPENBMC for open-source environments.
At the HPE Discover 2022 Analyst and Press Briefing, HPE SVP/GM, Compute Neil MacDonald, and Ampere CEO Renee James provided insight on what to expect with general availability in Q3 2022. Key items such as third-party validation of power efficiency benefit claims will be provided, as well as more detail in areas such as cost advantages and differentiation against rival silicon vendors Marvell OCTEON DPUs, Intel IPU, and AWS Graviton 3. Ampere is already emphasizing that it views the Ampere Altra Max as providing a market breakthrough with its 128-core processor design (i.e., first to market with 128-core cloud native processor). Both also confirmed the HPE-Ampere collaboration is non-exclusive.
Ampere is focused on delivering cloud native processor innovation. The Ampere Altra and the 128-core Altra Max chipsets use Arm’s N1 Neoverse CPU core with dual 128-bit SIMD engines to assert highest performance per watt and lowest power per core breakthroughs. Ampere cloud customers include Oracle (also an investor), Microsoft Azure, Tencent, Alibaba, and CloudFlare, which I believe bodes well for the HPE alliance in addressing the performance and power efficiency demands of service providers and digital-first organizations. An endorsement from CloudSigma and CloudSigma CEO Robert Jenkins on how the new server is positioned to aid the company’s power efficiency and sustainability goals while decreasing the cost of delivery to customers is also encouraging.
In sum, I anticipate that the new HPE ProLiant RL300 Gen11 server offering can address and fulfill the high performance and power efficiency demands of organizations adopting the cloud-native approach for application and service development and innovation. Using the Ampere Altra and Altra Max cloud-native processors can boost product differentiation and expand influence with decision makers who are prioritizing meeting organization-wide sustainability objectives. I am certainly looking forward to the new server’s general availability in Q3 2022 and learning more details.
Disclosure: Futurum Research is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.
Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of Futurum Research as a whole.
Other insights from Futurum Research:
HPE Goes Big on Private Cloud Extending its GreenLake Offerings at HPE Discover
HPE Dazzles with Host of New HPE GreenLake Capabilities and Partnerships
HPE RAN Automation Targets CSP Automation and Multi-vendor Challenges for Any RAN Environment
Image Credit: Ampere
Author Information
Ron is an experienced, customer-focused research expert and analyst, with over 20 years of experience in the digital and IT transformation markets, working with businesses to drive consistent revenue and sales growth.
Ron holds a Master of Arts in Public Policy from University of Nevada — Las Vegas and a Bachelor of Arts in political science/government from William and Mary.
