Bright Computing extends support to Cavium ThunderX2 64-bit Arm v8-A processors

Cavium’s ThunderX2 provides 64-bit Arm® v8-A data center and cloud processors, offering the level of integration and industry leading SoC performance required by the industry’s most demanding customer deployments and end users. Available in single and dual socket configurations, the ThunderX2 family includes over 40 different SKUs for both scale up and scale out applications, ranging from top bin 32 core 2.5GHz parts to 16-core 1.6GHz parts. The ThunderX2 family is fully compliant with Armv8-A architecture specifications as well as the Arm Server Base System Architecture (SBSA) and Arm Server Base Boot Requirements (SBBR) standards. ThunderX2 further accelerates adoption for Arm servers in mainstream cloud and HPC deployments by providing the next level of computing performance and ecosystem readiness for commercial deployments.

Bright announced a partnership with Cavium in 2015 and has worked closely with Cavium’s engineering team to bring Bright’s cluster management software to Cavium’s ThunderX2 platform. Bright Computing is also a Cavium ecosystem partner, supporting Cavium in its mission to empower customers to deploy and manage their Cavium-based platforms, quickly and easily.

Over the last decade, Bright Computing has developed advanced cluster management capabilities reflecting accumulated best practices in HPC systems, which is now brought to bear for the 64-bit Arm architecture. By expanding Bright Cluster Manager’s platform portfolio to support Cavium ThunderX2 64-bit Arm processors, organizations will have the ability to quickly and efficiently automate cluster deployment and management with Bright’s ready-to-use toolchain. In addition, Bright will be adding support for Kubernetes and OpenStack on Bright-managed 64-bit Arm clusters in an upcoming release. 

“The support for Bright Cluster Manager on ThunderX2 is a key accomplishment for the Bright Computing team and will add significant capabilities for the deployment and management of ThunderX2 clusters at scale,” said Larry Wikelius, Vice President Software Ecosystem and Solutions Group at Cavium, Inc.  “This release is another important milestone in Cavium’s partnership with Bright Computing and further demonstrates the rapidly growing Arm software ecosystem.”

Bill Wagner, CEO at Bright Computing, added; “We see growing interest from our customers, resellers and the HPC market in general for 64-bit Arm based clusters, and the challenges that organizations face in building and managing these clusters is no different than any other platform.  By bringing Bright Cluster Manager to Cavium’s ThunderX2 platform, we’re significantly reducing the complexity, labor, risk and time that organizations encounter in creating and running their 64-bit Arm clusters.”