Intel has invested $44 billion into a startup called Oxide, which is aiming to revolutionize on-premise and cloud servers. The company is focused on providing cloud-facing servers for purchase, rather than just for rent, and is combining this approach with co-designing hardware and software tailored to the purpose.
Oxide ships its rack with everything installed in one box, eliminating the need for additional cabling and hardware. Its servers have no hard-coded quotas for switching or routing, and customers can program the switch. Additionally, the firm has replaced the baseboard management controller with a service processor, which can handle power cycling and remote server management.
This approach of reequipping servers brings the software closer to the silicon compared to traditional server design, which involves stacking layers of software and hardware. Oxide Chief Technology Officer Bryan Cantrill explained that they wanted to deviate from the traditional switch design, stating, “x86 is a kind of a colostomy bag on the side of the switch, where you have got this kind of low-powered Xeon D, or what have you, on that an Intel Management Engine, and a bunch of things that we didn’t want in it.”
While companies like Google, AWS, and Meta have developed lightweight servers by stripping away parts, these servers are only available for rent through their services. Meanwhile, established companies like Dell and HPE have not yet created barebones cloud servers for purchase, which is where Oxide is hoping to fill the gap.
Oxide’s system uses AMD EPYC Milan CPUs in compute sleds that also include memory, storage, and networking components. These servers can handle tasks like VM management, eliminating the need for customer-operated software like VMware or OpenStack.
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