What are ARM servers?

ARM servers are servers based on the ARM ar­chi­tec­ture rather than the x86 in­struc­tion set. As demand grows for more energy-efficient server solutions for data centers, ARM-based servers are gaining promi­nence.

What is the un­der­ly­ing ar­chi­tec­ture of ARM servers?

ARM server proces­sors are built on the Reduced In­struc­tion Set Computing (RISC) ar­chi­tec­ture. Unlike the Complex In­struc­tion Set Computing (CISC) ar­chi­tec­ture common in x86 proces­sors (such as Intel and AMD), RISC operates with a sim­pli­fied in­struc­tion set. This reduced in­struc­tion set requires less energy, enabling ARM proces­sors to work more ef­fi­cient­ly. However, the ARM ar­chi­tec­ture is by no means weaker. The ar­chi­tec­ture is specif­i­cal­ly optimized for parallel processes and offers high levels of ef­fi­cien­cy and scal­a­bil­i­ty in modern ap­pli­ca­tions that do not rely heavily on high single-core per­for­mance.

In recent years, companies like Nvidia and Amazon Web Services (AWS) have made sig­nif­i­cant strides in de­vel­op­ing high-per­for­mance ARM servers that meet the needs of en­ter­prise and cloud ap­pli­ca­tions. Modern it­er­a­tions of the ar­chi­tec­ture, such as ARMv9, bring ad­van­tages for cutting-edge ap­pli­ca­tions like AI and machine learning. Companies like AWS, for instance, offer their Graviton processor family, which includes ARM-based CPUs designed specif­i­cal­ly for their data centers. As a result, the ARM ar­chi­tec­ture has evolved from being pre­dom­i­nant­ly used in mobile devices to becoming a reliable foun­da­tion for data centers and high-per­for­mance computing.

What are the ad­van­tages of ARM servers?

Thanks to their ar­chi­tec­ture, ARM servers offer several ad­van­tages over x86 ar­chi­tec­tures.

Energy ef­fi­cien­cy

The most sig­nif­i­cant advantage of ARM servers is their energy ef­fi­cien­cy. Since the ARM ar­chi­tec­ture was orig­i­nal­ly designed for mobile devices requiring long battery life, its proces­sors are optimized to use minimal energy. This energy ef­fi­cien­cy is also ben­e­fi­cial in data centers, where power con­sump­tion and cooling typically pose sig­nif­i­cant cost factors. ARM servers enable companies to reduce energy costs sub­stan­tial­ly, which also pos­i­tive­ly impacts their carbon footprint.

High scal­a­bil­i­ty and flex­i­bil­i­ty

ARM servers provide high scal­a­bil­i­ty, as the ar­chi­tec­ture allows for the in­te­gra­tion of a large number of cores into a single processor without com­pro­mis­ing energy ef­fi­cien­cy. This makes ARM-based servers ideal for workloads involving extensive parallel pro­cess­ing, where many com­pu­ta­tions need to be performed si­mul­ta­ne­ous­ly. Con­se­quent­ly, ARM servers are par­tic­u­lar­ly well-suited for cloud en­vi­ron­ments and modern container workloads.

Lower operating costs

Due to their energy ef­fi­cien­cy, ARM servers con­tribute to a more cost-effective op­er­a­tional in­fra­struc­ture. For companies running numerous servers in data centers, using ARM servers offers a way to sig­nif­i­cant­ly reduce operating costs without sac­ri­fic­ing per­for­mance. Ad­di­tion­al­ly, licensing costs can be lower with ARM-based servers, as many ARM im­ple­men­ta­tions utilize open-source-based operating systems and software.

What are common use cases for ARM servers?

ARM servers excel in modern ap­pli­ca­tions that require extensive parallel pro­cess­ing. However, depending on the specific use case, the ARM ar­chi­tec­ture can also hold its own against tra­di­tion­al x86 proces­sors in more con­ven­tion­al server ap­pli­ca­tions. Below are some of the key use cases for ARM servers:

Cloud computing

A sig­nif­i­cant use case for ARM servers is cloud computing. ARM proces­sors have proven their worth in this area, es­pe­cial­ly with regard to scal­a­bil­i­ty and energy ef­fi­cien­cy, making them at­trac­tive to providers like AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. They are ideal for ap­pli­ca­tions requiring par­al­lelism, such as mi­croser­vices and con­tainer­ized workloads. Companies operating their ap­pli­ca­tions in the cloud and focusing on cost ef­fi­cien­cy benefit from ARM-based instances, as these are generally more eco­nom­i­cal to run.

Web and ap­pli­ca­tion servers

ARM servers are also suitable for use as web and ap­pli­ca­tion servers. Par­tic­u­lar­ly when it comes to heavily traf­ficked websites or ap­pli­ca­tions requiring many si­mul­ta­ne­ous con­nec­tions, ARM-based servers can leverage their strength in parallel pro­cess­ing. This ca­pa­bil­i­ty allows companies to reduce op­er­a­tional costs through lower power con­sump­tion and reduced cooling re­quire­ments.

Edge computing and IoT ap­pli­ca­tions

Another growing use case for ARM servers, es­pe­cial­ly with ad­vance­ments like ARMv9, is edge computing. Since ARM proces­sors are in­her­ent­ly designed for energy-efficient operation, they are ideally suited for computing tasks close to the data source (i.e., at the network’s edge). This is par­tic­u­lar­ly relevant for the Internet of Things (IoT), where numerous sensors and devices require local com­pu­ta­tion­al power near the data source. ARM-based edge servers enable fast response times and reliable pro­cess­ing without high energy demands.

Ar­ti­fi­cial in­tel­li­gence and machine learning

Thanks to their parallel pro­cess­ing ca­pa­bil­i­ties and the potential for hardware spe­cial­iza­tion, modern ARM servers are also suitable for ap­pli­ca­tions in ar­ti­fi­cial in­tel­li­gence and machine learning. The 2021 in­tro­duc­tion of ARMv9 brought several ad­van­tages that make it par­tic­u­lar­ly well-suited for these ap­pli­ca­tion areas.

De­vel­op­ment and testing en­vi­ron­ments

ARM servers are also a great choice for de­vel­op­ment and testing en­vi­ron­ments. De­vel­op­ers can use ARM servers to test ap­pli­ca­tions for mobile and IoT devices that are also based on the ARM ar­chi­tec­ture. Using ARM servers in these contexts enables realistic con­di­tions, ensuring the ap­pli­ca­tion performs ef­fi­cient­ly and reliably on target platforms.