07/05/2019 Cavium ThunderX2 getting significant performance boost as glibc optimizations inbound - TechRepublic https://www.techrepublic.com/article/cavium-thunderx2-getting-significant-performance-boost-as-glibc-optimizations-inbound/ 1/8 Cavium ThunderX2 getting significant performance boost as glibc optimizations inbound By James Sanders in Hardware on May 6, 2019, 6:59 AM PST The GNU/Linux ecosystem is embracing Arm-based server processors, as challenges to Intel's hegemonic control of enterprise compute increase. Optimizations are coming to the GNU C Library (glibc) for Cavium's ThunderX2 Arm- powered server CPU (https://www.techrepublic.com/article/caviums-thunderx2-is-an-arm-chip-for-servers- that-could-be-a-good-fit-for-hpc/), as a recent commit changes the behavior of MEMMOVE (http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man3/memmove.3.html) in glibc 2.30, expected for release around the start of August. The commit, according to Cavium developer Steve Ellcey, provides improvements of "about 20-30% for larger cases and about 1-5% for smaller cases," and uses "SIMD load/store instead of GPR for large overlapping forward moves." Differences in how SIMD (Single Instruction, Multiple Data) instructions are handled between Intel and Arm architectures—where the instruction type is called NEON—have been a primary pain point to adopting Arm-powered processors for servers. Cloudflare, which uses (now discontinued) Qualcomm Centriq servers, has worked on optimizing open-source applications in its technology stack for Arm architectures, and has published its results (and code) publicly. 04:27 / 04:54 AUTOPLAY: ON Agree Manage Settings We and our partners use cookies to understand how you use our site, improve your experience and serve you personalized content and advertising. Read about how we use cookies in our cookie policy and how you can control them by clicking "Manage Settings". By continuing to use this site, you accept these cookies.
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as glibc optimizations inbound - Mont-Blanc€¦ · as glibc optimizations inbound By James Sanders in Hardware on May 6, 2019, 6:59 AM PS T The GNU/Linux ecosystem is embracing Arm-based
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By James Sanders in Hardware on May 6, 2019, 6:59 AM PST
The GNU/Linux ecosystem is embracing Arm-based server processors, as challenges to
Intel's hegemonic control of enterprise compute increase.
Optimizations are coming to the GNU C Library (glibc) for Cavium's ThunderX2 Arm-
powered server CPU (https://www.techrepublic.com/article/caviums-thunderx2-is-an-arm-chip-for-servers-
that-could-be-a-good-fit-for-hpc/), as a recent commit changes the behavior of MEMMOVE
(http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man3/memmove.3.html) in glibc 2.30, expected for release around
the start of August. The commit, according to Cavium developer Steve Ellcey, provides
improvements of "about 20-30% for larger cases and about 1-5% for smaller cases," and
uses "SIMD load/store instead of GPR for large overlapping forward moves."
Differences in how SIMD (Single Instruction, Multiple Data) instructions are handled
between Intel and Arm architectures—where the instruction type is called NEON—have
been a primary pain point to adopting Arm-powered processors for servers. Cloudflare,
which uses (now discontinued) Qualcomm Centriq servers, has worked on optimizing
open-source applications in its technology stack for Arm architectures, and has published
its results (and code) publicly.
04:27 / 04:54 AUTOPLAY: ON
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on-aws-mean-for-your-cloud-and-data-center-strategy/) Intel's hegemonic control of the data center.
Linus Torvalds recently praised Arm servers, but also claimed the economics and
ecosystem are missing (https://www.techrepublic.com/article/linus-torvalds-praises-arm-servers-but-claims-
the-economics-and-ecosystem-are-missing/); SolidRun aimed to address those concerns by
releasing a developer-focused Arm workstation (https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-solidrun-AgreeManage Settings
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Clean out junk files in Windows 7, 8.1, and 10 (https://download.cnet.com/news/clean-out-junk-files-
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Raspberry Pi: More must-read coverage (https://flipboard.com/@techrepublic/raspberry-pi-
6a7msrr7z) (TechRepublic on Flipboard)
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