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Baidu First to Deploy Marvell's ARM-based Server


BARCELONA, Spain, and SANTA CLARA, Calif., Feb. 25 – Marvell today announced the inclusion of its chipset in the world's first commercial deployment of ARM-based servers at Chinese search engine giant Baidu. As the first organization in the world to leverage ARM servers for commercial use, Baidu is pioneering a new era of more cost-effective and environmentally friendly data centers that feature power-sipping consumption and greater performance. Marvell's implementation of ARM in its ARMADA XP CPU server SoC provides an easy to integrate, all-in-one solution that supports a new class of server demands in today's data center, especially given the growth of high-storage light-computing tasks for cloud-based services and applications, Web hosting and social sites. Baidu is using the new ARM servers in its personal cloud storage application named "Baidu Cloud."

"Marvell is proud that both our passion to drive breakthrough technology and innovation and our vision to make an early investment in ARM more than a decade ago has led to this important milestone of becoming the first semiconductor company in the world to commercially launch an end-to-end SoC platform that supports a new era of server demands in the modern data center," said Ramesh Sivakolundu , vice president, Cloud Services and Infrastructure Business Unit, Marvell. "Based on the ARM architecture and combined with our dedicated engineering, the Marvell server SoC is unique in its ability to deliver the low power consumption, high storage and computer density, fast implementation time and easy manageability that can help companies cost-effectively support a new era of cloud- and Web-based services. The Baidu implementation brings Marvell's vision for ARM architecture full circle, and Marvell's leadership and heritage as the only company to provide end-to-end ARM solutions that cover communications, storage, servers, compute and mobile was integral in making the Baidu deployment a reality."

As a growing number of Internet and cloud services companies look to migrate away from inefficient legacy architectures and embrace the energy-efficient ARM server, the Baidu implementation validates Marvell's long-held belief that ARM technology will power everything from small mobile devices to large enterprise data centers.

The ARM servers in the Baidu data center are powered by Marvell's complete platform solution of quad core ARM-based ARMADA XP SoC products, including the ARMADA XP CPU, Marvell's storage controller, and a 10Gb Ethernet switch. Marvell has customized the ARM servers specifically for Baidu's cloud storage requirements. The Marvell platform is designed to increase the amount of storage for conventional 2U chassis up to 96 TB, and to lower the total cost of ownership by 25 percent, compared with previous x86-based server solutions. Marvell's expertise in compute, storage and networking translates to a completely integrated solution that meets Baidu's demand for a "green" data center that reduces power consumption by half while dramatically increasing efficiency.

In addition, Marvell has incorporated its Ethernet physical layer (PHY) transceivers, which offer the industry's lowest power dissipation, smallest form factor, highest performance and most advanced feature set. Marvell PHY technology leads the industry with the lowest power consumption (under 150 mWatts per port), enabling network systems manufacturers to decrease system cost by reducing both power supply and fan requirements.

"Based on the advanced principles of 'application-driven' and 'software-defined' data center design, Baidu is a trend-setter in shifting data to the cloud. The world's first large-scale deployment of ARM servers in the data center represents Baidu's leadership in cloud computing system infrastructure," said Mr. Wang Jing , vice president of engineering at Baidu. "In order to bring greater storage density to the data center, lower TCO (total cost of ownership) and deliver efficiency to a new level, Baidu integrated leading design capabilities with Marvell's advanced chipset solutions. This project represents Baidu's success in building cloud computing data centers."

The ARMADA XP, the world's first commercially available quad-core ARM processor, is specifically designed for server use in enterprise-class cloud computing environments. Its four 1.6 GHz ARM-V7-based cores offer support for 16GB DDR3 DRAM, providing one of the best PPW for next-generation green data centers. The result is lower-power, higher-efficiency server solutions for enterprise data centers, leading to significant savings.

About Baidu

Baidu, Inc. is the leading Chinese language Internet search provider. As a technology-based media company, Baidu aims to provide the best and most equitable way for people to find what they're looking for online. In addition to serving individual Internet search users, Baidu provides an effective platform for businesses to reach potential customers. Baidu's ADSs trade on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol "BIDU". Currently, ten ADSs represent one Class A ordinary share.

About Marvell

Marvell is a global leader in providing complete silicon solutions enabling the digital connected lifestyle. From mobile communications to storage, cloud infrastructure, digital entertainment and in-home content delivery, Marvell's diverse product portfolio aligns complete platform designs with industry-leading performance, security, reliability and efficiency. At the core of the world's most powerful consumer, network and enterprise systems, Marvell empowers partners and their customers to always stand at the forefront of innovation, performance and mass appeal. By providing people around the world with mobility and ease of access to services adding value to their social, private and work lives, Marvell is committed to enhancing the human experience.

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Source: Marvell

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