Perhaps one of the most unique designs we saw at Computex 2019 is the Wiwynn EP100. EP stands for Edge Platform and Wiwynn has a major development partner for the EP100, Nokia. The Wiwynn EP100 is the building block for the Nokia OpenEDGE platform. This 3U platform can house up to five nodes for flexible and customizable deployments.
Wiwynn EP100 Short Depth 3U5N Server
All of the nodes and power supplies of the Wiwynn 3U5N server are at the front of the chassis. Unlike traditional 2U4N platforms, the Wywinn EP100 is just under 17 inches deep, or about half of what we typically see from traditional platforms.
Key specs for each of the single socket nodes are:
- Single socket Intel Xeon
- 8x DDR4 DIMMs (2TB with 256GB DIMMs, 2.5TB with Optane DCPMM)
- 2x Hot-swap U.2 NVMe bays
- 2x M.2 2280 or 22110
- 1x PCIe x16 FHHL slot
- 1x OCP Gen3 NIC slot
There are also 2U sleds which add additional PCIe and U.2 storage capabilities to each node while sacrificing node density.
Final Words
This platform was absolutely awesome to see in person. For those organizations that need to stand up multi-node clusters at the edge, perhaps with some hardware customization, the Wiwynn EP100 platform is a unique choice. We have seen 2U dual socket and 2U2N edge compute platforms from other vendors, but this is the first 3U5N.
Having a short depth chassis with dual power supplies makes it easier to deploy in space-constrained edge deployments. What is more, having all of the nodes, SSDs, and power supplies serviceable from the front of the chassis means that the chassis can be installed and the components upgraded over time. For many edge deployments, this will make the x86 compute architectures more serviceable. With the interest in deploying network services and applications at the edge, designs like the Wiwynn EP100 will help change the compute landscape.
Looks very unique for sure!