RCR Mobile Minute
Verizon job cuts reported
About 1,000 Verizon Communications employees will get buyout offers for the holidays, according to a report from Bloomberg. The report cites an unnamed source who said Verizon wants to complete the job cuts by the end of year, and did not say which parts of the company might be affected.
AWS servers get custom processor from Intel
As mobile operators tap cloud infrastructure for data analytics and content delivery, server speed is a key consideration. Amazon, ranked as the world’s largest provider of cloud storage, says it will use a custom Intel processor to deliver the world’s fastest EC2 instances. (EC2 refers to Amazon’s Elastic Cloud Compute, and EC2 instances are virtual servers in that infrastructure.)
“This custom processor, designed specifically for EC2, runs at a base speed of 2.9 GHz, and can achieve clock speeds as high as 3.5 GHz with Turbo boost,” said Amazon in a blog post.
This is not the first time Intel has designed a custom processor for a partner. The chip giant has also created specialized silicon for Oracle. Intel clearly sees data centers and cloud infrastructures as key growth areas and is willing to invest heavily in the success of its key customers here.
Earlier this month, Intel told Bloomberg that processors based on ARM’s architecture are still not able to deliver the same performance for the same cost that Intel offers. ARM, which creates the core designs for the chips inside most smartphones, is eager to expand into the server market.
The Mobile Minute is sponsored by Juniper Networks.
