how multi-core technology will influence traditional models of software licensing

Margaret LewisAMD

Commercial Solutions Strategists

How Multi-Core Technology Will Influence How Multi-Core Technology Will Influence Traditional Models of Software LicensingTraditional Models of Software Licensing

Software LicensingSoftware LicensingTechnology PressuresTechnology Pressures

Technology trends are pushing against the boundaries of traditional software licensing– Multi-core processors– Virtualization– Grid computing

Virtual Machine

Virtual Machine Virtual

Machine

Software LicensingSoftware LicensingUser PressuresUser Pressures

Users continue balk at significant increases in software costs for emerging technologies

Many ISVs are resorting to one-off licensing to address user concerns

Industry continues to debate software licensing models

Why Multi-Core Technology?Why Multi-Core Technology?

More performance without increasing costs More CPU horsepower in smaller footprint

– Smaller form factor provides more CPU capabilities

– Industry-standard server provide the capacity of high-end proprietary servers

Better leverage existing infrastructure – Increased performance with same power

requirement as single core– More servers per rack

Why Multi-Core Processors?Why Multi-Core Processors?

4P server with AMD Opteron™ Model 875

4P server with Itanium2 1.6 GHz 9MB L2 cache

2P server with AMD Opteron™ Model 275

4P server with Xeon 3.33 GHz 8MB L3 cache

SPECweb®99_SSL

7538

4986

4240

3732

2P Dual-Core AMD Opteron™ processor-based server out performs 4P single-core server

4P Dual-Core AMD Opteron™ processor-based server has 2x the performance of a 4P single-core server

More horsepower for less space and power

Why Multi-Core Processors?Why Multi-Core Processors?

IDC believes that dual-core processing could accelerate workload shifts from mid- and high-end systems to entry- or volume-server-based platformsVernon Turner, group vice president and general manager of Enterprise Computing, IDC

Increases performance without increasing infrastructure costs

http://www.egenera.com/display_pr.php?id=218

I/O HubUSB

PCI

PCI-E Bridge

PCI-E Bridge

PCI-E BridgeI/O Hub

CPU CPU

Eliminating Architectural BottlenecksEliminating Architectural Bottlenecks

Legacy x86 Architecture• 20-year old front-side bus architecture• CPUs, Memory, I/O all share a bus• Major bottleneck to performance• Faster CPUs or more cores ≠ performance

AMD64 Technology with Direct Connect Architecture• Industry-standard AMD64 technology• Direct Connect Architecture helps

eliminate bottlenecks of traditional front-side bus architecture

• HyperTransport™ Technology interconnect for high bandwidth and low latency

SRQCrossbar

HTMem.Ctrlr

SRQCrossbar

HTMem.Ctrlr

CPU CPU CPU CPU8 GB/S

8 GB/S 8 GB/S

8 GB/S

I/O Hub

PCI-E BridgePCI-E BridgePCI-E Bridge

Memory Controller

Hub

Why Multi-Core Processors? Why Multi-Core Processors? AMD Opteron™ Processor PricingAMD Opteron™ Processor Pricing

800 Series 200 Series100 Series with ECC unbuffered memory support

Dual-Core Model 880 $2,649 Dual-Core

Model 280 $1,299 Dual-Core Model 180* $799


Model 275 $1,051 Dual-Core Model 175 $530


Model 270 $851 Dual-Core Model 170 $475


Model 265 $690 Dual-Core Model 165 $417

Model 854 $1,514 Model 254 $851

Model 852 $1,165 Model 252 $690 Model 152 $799

Model 850 $873 Model 250 $455 Model 150 $367




Model 842 $698 Model 242 $163

Multi-Core Processors Multi-Core Processors Software Licensing UpdateSoftware Licensing Update

“The introduction of dual and multi-core processing is triggering a long overdue debate and forcing software vendors to reassess the way they've traditionally sold enterprise software.”

David Znidarsic, vice president of technology, Macrovision

Multi-Core ProcessorsMulti-Core ProcessorsSoftware Licensing UpdateSoftware Licensing Update

Silicon package defines the “physical” processor Processor has two or more execution cores Number of cores becoming

a feature that drives improved performance and efficiency

Industry has been forced to re-evaluated the definition of a “processor”

Core 000

Core 001

Physical Processor

Execution Cores


Trend with ISV’s surveyed is to move toward a usage or financial metric as a major licensing method

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Server Seat

Concurrent User

User Seat

Processor (CPU)

Usage Metric

Financial Metric

2006 2004

Key Trends in Software Licensing – survey by Macrovision, Oct 2004

Software Licensing Trends


Software most likely to license by processor:– IT Infrastructure – Database– Business Processing

Software least likely to license by processor:– Operating Systems– Application Development– Web Infrastructure– Collaboration– Decision Support– Virtual Processing/Grid/Cluster software

Software Licensing in Multi-core, Multithreaded, and Virtual Environments: Executive Interviews, IDC Special Study, Sept. 2005


Type of Software Licensing Method Vendor Status

Operating Systems Processor, Site MSFT, Novell, Red Hat, Sun by processor

Database Engines Processor, Core, User, Site MS SQL and IBM DB2 by processor (for x86)Oracle by # of cores x .75

Management Tools Processor, User, Site EMC, IBM, HP, Tivoli, Veritas negotiate by various licensing methods

Licensing Software Processor, Core, User, Site Macrovision supports various methods

Virtualization Processor MSFT, VMware, SWsoft by processor

Email Server Processor, User, Site MSFT and IBM by processor

Web Server Processor, User, Site, Transaction MSFT by processor

Application Servers Processor, Processor/core, User, Site BEA and IBM by processor (for x86)

HPC Software Processor, Thread Numerous vendors

Open Source Software GPL, LGPL, BSD, MIT Various open source projects/communities

Since Sept. 2004, AMD has taken a leadership role in addressing the issues of multi-core processor licensing, recommending ISVs license by processor

instead of by core

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Corporate/VirtualPressRoom/0,,51_104_543_12605~90042,00.html


Licensing by core has the most immediate effect on 4processor/8 core servers You can maintain software costs by:

– Negotiating alternate licensing method, such as site or user licensing– Buy smaller servers to stay within processor limits of software versions – Move to alternate software that offers a processor licensing scheme

You should closely evaluate TCO:– Smaller numbers of larger server could be more economic even with

more expensive licensing if you compare hardware, infrastructure, and management costs

You need to bring licensing concerns directly to your software provider!

Companies are estimating that 25% to 50% of their hardware infrastructure will be

dual core by 2008 Primary workloads for multi-core systems will

include– IT infrastructure– Database– Virtual processing/clustering/grid

The adoption of virtualization and grid computing technologies are fueling the next round in the software licensing debate

Virtualization and Grid ComputingVirtualization and Grid Computing

Software Licensing in Multi-core, Multithreaded, and Virtual Environments: Executive Interviews, IDC Special Study, Sept. 2005

Virtualization Virtualization Making Resource Consolidation a Reality!Making Resource Consolidation a Reality!

Partitions a server into independent “virtual machines”

Enables consolidation of multiple applications onto more powerful and efficient servers

Helps to reduces costs associated with: – floor and rack space– power and cooling – software installation– administration

OS OSOS

Application

Application

Application


Machine

Virtual Machine

Virtualization ApproachesVirtualization Approaches

Host OS

Virtualization Software

Virtual Machine

Virtual Machine

Software Virtualization Hardware-Enabled Virtualization

AMD Opteron™ Processor with Pacifica Technology

Host OS with Hypervisor

Virtual Machine

Virtual Machine

Resource ManagerSolaris

App App

Container Container

Host OS + Virtualization

Software

Virtual Machine

Virtual Machine

Grid ComputingGrid ComputingMaking Resource Consolidation a Reality!Making Resource Consolidation a Reality!

Cluster of industry-standard 2P and/or 4P servers

Creates as single set of shared resources that can be dynamically scaled up or down to meet demands

Reduces space, power, hardware, and administration costs while providing an efficient and secure computing infrastructure

Virtualization and Grid ComputingVirtualization and Grid ComputingSoftware Licensing IssuesSoftware Licensing Issues

A single application only uses some of available

processors of a server or cluster

Single application “owns” all available processors, even if it does not use them

Application

One application to one server

Virtual Machine


Machine

One application to a subset of CPUs

Per processor licensing model continues to fall apart


Common Questions If you run software on less than the full server, will

you still have to pay for the full server? If you have more virtual machines than there are

processors in the server, will you have to pay for every instance of software?

How can software license models adapt to grid environments that can quickly scale up or down depending on demand?


What type of licensing model could work? Usage metric or “pay for performance” approach

– Number of users– Timed use (CPU hours)– Number of transactions– Number of threads– Amount of data transferred

Software license that allows for multiple installations – One fee covers numerous installations on a server or grid– Stepped licensing plan with 100% cost for first copy and

percentage discount for any additional copies

Virtualization and Grid ComputingVirtualization and Grid ComputingSome Software Licensing ExamplesSome Software Licensing Examples

Oracle and virtualization – Hardware partitioning - customers running a Solaris 10

license only the processors or cores that are running the Oracle binaries

– Software partitioning - customers running virtualization software like VMware must license for all processors cores available on the server

Sun and grid computing– Sun charges $1 CPU/hour for its grid computer services

Virtualization and Grid ComputingVirtualization and Grid ComputingSoftware Licensing RecommendationsSoftware Licensing Recommendations

AMD recommends that ISVs support emerging x86-based virtualization and grid computing technologies by moving to software licensing models based on:– Usage metric (pay for performance) – License that allows multiple software

installations on virtualized server or computer grid

Pending AnnouncementPending Announcement

Virtualization and Grid ComputingVirtualization and Grid ComputingSoftware Licensing RecommendationsSoftware Licensing Recommendations

Bring your licensing concerns directly to your software provider!

Move to software that offers alternate licensing scheme – ISVs taking leadership position (such as Microsoft and

Sun)– Open Source Software

Negotiate alternate licensing method, such as site or user licensing

Solving Today’s IT ChallengesSolving Today’s IT Challenges

Accelerate application performance Improve asset utilization Reduce computing complexity Control infrastructure costs

Multi-core processors Server virtualization Grid computing

New Data Center

Architectures

Closing Thoughts . . .Closing Thoughts . . .

With technologies such as multi-core, virtualization, grid and on-demand, the per CPU model is falling over

William Fellows, principal analyst,

The 451 Group

Trademark AttributionTrademark Attribution

AMD, the AMD Arrow Logo, AMD Opteron, AMD Athlon, AMD PowerNow!, and combinations thereof are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Other names used in this presentation are for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.

how multi-core technology will influence traditional models of software licensing

Documents

dualcore processing

multicore technology

multicore processing

rackwhy multicore processors

powerwhy multicore processors

software costs

enterprise software

software licensing models