Hi fellow hackers, after recent discussions about our Softiron OverDrive in IRC, I thought it might be a good idea to have look what options for powerful ARM machines are around. That was some weeks ago.
Today there where another discussions on IRC about building packages on ARM, so I sent in my findings. ARM cloud/VPS offers ==================== Packet 96cores, 128G RAM -> 4380$/a [0] Amazon 16vCPU, 32G RAM -> 4080$/a [1] Linaro free dev VMs =================== Linaro, an organization somehow connected with ARM offers ARM VMs for free for developers. They go up to 32vCPU, 64G RAM: https://www.linaro.cloud/ ARM servers selfhosting ======================= Marvell ThunderX 32cores, 1U 400W -> 2000$+ Marvell ThunderX 48cores, 1U 400W -> 3000$+ + RAM + disks + taxes + shipping [2] Avantek has also ThunderX offerings, slightly more expensive but based in UK[4]. ThunderX2 is insanely expensive compared to v1. Starting at something above 9.000$. Other fast ARM server chips come from Qualcomm (Centriq), Ampere eMAG[8] and Huawei (Kunpeng on TaiShan boards). Huawei TaiShans are distributed by a Polish company[5] and an US distributor[6]. Colocation costs for such servers starts at 1500€/a in Germany. I don't think selfhosting for those isn't really an option. As they are big and more power hungry then the Softirons... Summary ======= Neither VPS nor dedicated build machines for ARM are cheap, if they are decent powerful. As a first step I could try to reach out Linaro if they are willing to provide us some VMs. Kind Regards Jonathan [0] https://www.packet.com/cloud/servers/ [1] https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/pricing/on-demand/ + traffic costs 0.09$ per GB [2] https://www.asacomputers.com/Cavium-ThunderX.html [4] https://store.avantek.co.uk/arm-servers.html [5] https://www.vectorsolutions.net/kat-produktow/serwery-data-center/ [6] https://actfornet.com/search?q=taishan [8] Ampere eMag is used in Lenovo ThinkSystem HR330A. I can't find a reseller vor them.