
Amazon buys secretive chip maker Annapurna Labs for $350M - DiabloD3
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/198140-amazon-buys-secretive-chip-maker-annapurna-labs-for-350-million
======
discodave
Some data points:

From a Forbes article: "AWS sees networking as the critical path for cloud but
also realizes that the relative cost of networking increases as server and
storage prices drop rapidly. Networking is, in Hamilton’s words, “frozen in
time” as the vertically integrated ecosystems generate “indefensible profit
margins”. AWS’ solution is to build a custom networking hardware and protocol
stack and to own their own private long haul links."

from this Forbes article:
[http://www.forbes.com/sites/benkepes/2014/11/25/scale-
beyond...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/benkepes/2014/11/25/scale-beyond-
comprehension-some-aws-numbers/)

So Amazon is really really trying to reduce the cost of Networking.

From the extremetech article: "Analysts have pointed to server networking
chips as Annapurna Labs’ main focus. These chips could be used to move data
more efficiently and save power in data centers."

I think it's pretty clear why they are making this aquisition...

~~~
es09
I doubt if reducing cost can be the only factor. Broadcom chips are going to
be pretty much the lowest cost ones because of their scale. It's more likely
that they are dreaming up some network architecture that isn't served well by
existing solutions.

~~~
discodave
By lowest cost I didn't mean the actual cost of the chips but the cost of the
whole architecture. As you point out, the best solution might require chips
that can't be found off the shelf.

I guess the metric they're trying to optimize is cost/performance/watt or
something like that.

------
stuntprogrammer
Unfortunately, the only public information I recall seeing was the use of a
quad Cortex-A15 based SOC with integrated dual 10G in a NAS box.

However, the real capabilities of the product line were far more interesting,
with very cool demos up and running with awesome metrics. The server
possibilities are huge... especially if you provide opaque optimized services
in a cloud to user workloads running on the x86 side.

~~~
newman314
I was coming here to say this but can't talk more due to NDA.

However, I would say look at the capabilities as listed for Synology DS2015x
and extropolate. I, for one, kind of wish that Annapurna remained independent
for other uses outside of AWS.

[http://www.anandtech.com/show/8777/synologys-ds2015xs-
brings...](http://www.anandtech.com/show/8777/synologys-ds2015xs-brings-arm-
to-highperformance-nas-units)

"The SoC at the heart of the DS2015xs is the AL-514 from Annapurna Labs, an
Israeli startup that is still in stealth mode. The company has declined to
speak to the media as of now. However, tracing some coverage of Israeli VC
firms reveals that Annapurna Labs was founded in 2011 with the intent of
bringing ARM-based communication processors to the market. Datasheets of SoCs
from Annapurna Labs are not currently available to the public, but Synology
was kind enough to divulge the following details (which, I suspect, can be
gleaned via SSH access to the DS2015xs):

The AL-514 has four ARM Cortex-A15 cores running at 1.7 GHz The Cortex-A15
cores are configured with LPAE (large physical address extension) that allows
addressing of more than 4 GB of RAM (the DS2015xs supports up to 8 GB) The SoC
has two 10G Ethernet MAC IPs integrated"

~~~
gonzo
Nothing here that can't be found in recent releases from Cavium, Broadcom and
AMD.

~~~
stuntprogrammer
That's why the NDA is so frustrating; we can't talk re the fun features and
demos.. I know the AMD and Cavium parts rather well also. The Amd one doesn't
support what I have in mind. The Cavium does on paper but the cores, even with
just public info, can be seen to be underwhelming. Typical network processor
style, which struggles with other workloads. Unfortunately for them, they
picked up a couple of the less clued in Calxeda execs that don't understand SW
or workloads very well.

------
discardorama
With the number of servers Amazon has powering AWS, etc. maybe it's worth
their while to buy a chipmaker and design custom chips to keep things going? I
have no idea why Amazon would need a chipmaker otherwise.

~~~
DiabloD3
You mean besides their e-reader, tablet, phone, media device, and whatever-
the-hell-the-Echo-is product lines?

~~~
duaneb
In general, CPUs are definitely not the problem with those devices.... it's
the terrible software and tiny app store.

~~~
DiabloD3
If they're trying to lower the cost by cutting out various middlemen, it still
helps. I'll buy a Kindle Fire 7" if they can get them down to $50, yet have
the same or better feature set.

~~~
orbifold
There is no way that the processor costs ~50% of the retail price and that
they would be able to lower costs by designing their own chip (the acquisition
alone, plus chip design and manufacture could easily run into the billions of
dollars).

~~~
DiabloD3
It doesn't, the glass and battery is the majority of the cost. But Amazon is
thinking long term here, so who knows what their next purchase will be.

~~~
gonzo
Jeff wants to be Steve.

