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AMD debuts first Open Compute Project Open 3.0 motherboard

AMD is the first to unveil its Open Compute Project "open source" motherboard. Called the Open 3.0, the board is suitable for cloud server, storage servers, and high-performance computing clusters.
Written by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, Contributing Writer

Chipmaker AMD has unveiled its first Open Compute Project "open source" motherboard.

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Both AMD and Intel have both been working on the Open Compute Project since Facebook kicked off the open source hardware project back in 2011. Now, AMD has become the first major vendor to ship a motherboard developed out of the project.

The AMD Open 3.0 motherboard -- previously codenamed "Roadrunner" -- is a 16-inch-by-16.7-inch board that has been specially designed to fit into 1U, 1.5U, 2U or 3U rack height servers. It offers support for two AMD Opteron 6300 Series CPUs, each with 12 memory sockets, six SATA connections per board, a single dual channel gigabit Ethernet port, up to four PCI Express, and two USB ports. 

The board makes use of AMD's own "Fiorano" SR5670/SP5100 chipset.

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"This is a realization of the Open Compute Project's mission of 'hacking conventional computing infrastructure'," said Frank Frankovsky, chairman of the Open Compute Foundation and Facebook vice-president of hardware design and supply chain. "What's really exciting for me here is the way the Open Compute Project inspired AMD and specific consumers to collaboratively bring our 'vanity-free' design philosophy to a motherboard that suited their exact needs."

The boards are designed to be flexible enough to be used in cloud server, storage servers, and high-performance computing clusters.

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Patrick Moorhead, president and principal analyst of Moor Insights & Strategy, said: "AMD's 3.0 boards raise the stakes for everyone given their flexibility," and that "AMD really listened this time and executed well."

Given that Intel commands some 90 percent of the server chip market, the fact that AMD is first to market with an Open Compute Project board gives the company a slight advantage; however, this is expected to be short-lived.

Image source: AMD/Open Compute Project.

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