It was November 2023 when Microsoft announced that it was working on the design and development of its own range of ARM processors. During the conference Build 2024the company led by Satya Nadella has revealed that it has “packaged” and already made available for its customers, the new and shiny processor Azure Cobalt 100. It is a chip specifically designed to support the workloads developed by the new virtual machines on the cloud Microsoft.
The performance of Azure Cobalt 100-based virtual machines
According to Microsoft, the virtual machines based on Azure Cobalt 100 can deliver up to 1.4x better performance on the CPU side and up to 1.5x better performance when handling Java-based workloads, 2x better performance on web servers, .NET applications and applications that use the cache in-memory. The yardstick is the previous generation of Azure virtual machines built on the ARM platform.
In terms of local storage, the leap in value IOPS is quadruple, using NVMe Direct. NVME Direct is a method of direct access to storage devices that bypasses the traditional file system and operating system, allowing applications to communicate and send commands directly to the storage device. This reduces latency andoverhead during I/O operations.
As for the bandwidth, Microsoft cites a 1.5x improvement. From this page you can access the request form and the demo of the Cobalt 100 chip.
New virtual machines available for free in preview
In announcing the important news, Microsoft spokespersons pointed out that Azure Cobalt 100 configurations are available in preview for new virtual machines created on the Azure platform.
During this first phase, the availability of Azure Colbat 100-based virtual machines is free. Microsoft will still charge variable fees for services used within these virtual machines.
The new virtual machine built around Microsoft’s ARM processor, they also include support for a series of storage solutions including standard SSD and hard disk, Premium SSD and Ultra Disk storage. L’Ultra Disk on Azure is a type of solid-state drive-based, high-performance, low-latency storage designed for workloads with high and unpredictable I/O demands.
Azure users can install releases Insider Preview of Windows 11 Pro and Enterprise on Cobalt 100 virtual systems. But you can also choose numerous GNU/Linux operating systems, such as Ubuntu, CentOS, Debian, Red Hat Enterprise Linux and others.
A few months ago Microsoft also announced another internally designed chip, Maia AI 100, designed specifically to manage AI-based services. At the time of this writing, there is no word on when it will be generally available.
Opening image credit: Microsoft