AMD recently introduced the data center-capable Alveo MA35D accelerator. This accelerator card is made to handle video processing for multiple video streams.
The new AMD Alveo MA35D is the successor to the AMD Alveo U30 accelerator. The new accelerator card allows video streaming service providers to better process multiple video streams simultaneously.
The new accelerator card should be able to process four times as many video streams as its predecessor. These include 32 1080p streams, 8 4K streams or 4 8K streams at the same time. Also, these streams use up to 66 percent less power. In a standard 1U rack server, AMD says, eight MA35D accelerators can fit, collectively processing up to 256 simultaneous video streams.
ASICs as VPUs
Under the hood, the AMD Alveo features two 5-nanometer ASICs or Video Processing Units (VPUs). These VPUs run only one type of workload, in this case that for video processing. This minimizes the movement of data between the CPU and the accelerator, resulting in less latency and maximum channel density, AMD says.
AI engine as well
In addition to the VPUs, the AMD MA35D also has other compute power modules on board. These include an AI engine that can perform up to 22 trillion processing operations per second. This engine runs AI models that automatically increase the quality of video streams and compress them to save bandwidth.
The AMD Alveo MA35D is currently being tested with several customers. Starting in the third quarter of this year, the accelerator card should be available in large numbers.
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