Getting 64-bit ARM to the Masses

Long known as an innovator in the Linux space, SUSE in the last few weeks has made several announcements around 64-bit ARM platforms and software stacks. The first and most foundational of these is the introduction of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP2. This release updated the kernel to version 4.4 and includes support for 64-bit ARM server hardware. This release also coincides with an update to the toolchain module where SUSE provides modern compilers for our customers and partners to use for building their apps. The version present in the toolchain module today is GCC 6.2.

The second, and in some ways the most important release, is that of SUSE Linux Enterprise for the Raspberry Pi. This release is really a prebuilt image of the standard product that is ready to be loaded on the Raspberry Pi. It leverages some great work done by Alex Graf that builds an efi boot environment on top of uboot. The importance of this release cannot be understated due to the immense distribution and recognition of the Raspberry Pi platform. Simply getting a full-blown enterprise distribution into the hands of developers and students helps ensure better security for IoT devices built from this system, and I am sure we all now realize how important it is to have a secured IoT environment.

The third major announcement around 64-bit ARM is the support of SUSE Enterprise Storage, the Ceph based Software Defined Storage offering, on the 64-bit ARM platforms. This is a space where 64-bit ARM makes a lot of sense due to cost and power savings. This value is enhanced even further when the silicon vendors embed customer accelerators that benefit storage environments on their chips. The end result is that SUSE partners can offer reliable, highly scalable and performant storage based on X86_64 OR 64-bit ARM technology.

A fourth item of interest to the HPC community is the work that SUSE has been doing with regards to the openHPC community. As a founding member and strong supporter of the ideals in this community, SUSE worked with Cavium and ARM to add 64-bit ARM build power to the openHPC project. The result is that version 1.2 now has a technical preview build for 64-bit ARM systems. This again emphasizes the customer's ability to chose the technology they are most interested in for their unique circumstances.

I am sure there will be more announcements in the future, but these first four represent giant steps in bringing innovation to the hands of the masses. If you happen to see me somewhere or would like to just comment on this post in regards to 64-bit ARM, please do so, I am always happy to engage with you!