RISER: Raising RISC-V to the cloud

Date : 03.02.2023

RISER Project is chartered to develop the first all-European RISC-V cloud server infrastructure, significantly enhancing Europe's strategic autonomy in open-source technologies. This project will leverage and validate open hardware high-speed interfaces combined with a fully featured operating system environment and runtime system, enabling the integration of low-power components, including RISC-V chips coming from EU-funded Research & Innovation activities, in a novel energy-efficient cloud architecture. 

RISER Project brings together seven partners from industry and academia to jointly develop and validate open-source designs for standardized form-factor system platforms, suitable for supporting cloud services. Specifically, RISER Project will build two cloud-focused platforms: 
(1) An accelerator PCIe card integrating up to four RISC-V chips derived from the EUPILOT project [URL: https://eupilot.eu]. This accelerator can plug-in into any PCIe-enabled SOC, whether ARM or x86. 
(2) A cloud services platform, interconnecting microserver boards developed by the project, each one supporting up to four RISC-V chips coupled with high-speed storage and networking. Embracing hyperconvergence, the RISER microserver architecture allows for distributed storage and memory to be used by any processor in the system with low overhead. The open-source system board designs of this project will be accompanied by open-source low-level firmware and systems software, and a representative Linux-based software stack to support cloud services, facilitating uptake and enhancing the commercialization path of project results.

Three use cases will be developed to evaluate and demonstrate the capabilities of RISER platforms: 
a) Acceleration of compute workloads;
b) Networked object and key-value storage;
c) Containerized execution as part of a provider-managed IaaS environment. 

Project synopsis

  • Project name: RISER: RISC-V for cloud services | Start/end date: 01/01/2023 - 31/12/2025 
  • Key themes:  RISC-V, open hardware interfaces, PCIe accelerator board, microserver, boot firmware, Linux operating system, open-source software stack for cloud services
  • Partners: Greece: FOUNDATION FOR RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY – HELLAS (FORTH - Coordinator), EXASCALE PERFORMANCE SYSTEMS (EXAPSYS); Spain: SemiDynamics Technology Services S.L. (SMD), BARCELONA SUPERCOMPUTING CENTER (BSC); France: SIPEARL SAS; Germany: EXTOLL GMBH; Switzerland: CloudSigma AG.
  • Website: www.riser-project.eu
  • Contacts: 
    Manolis Marazakis, FORTH-ICS, maraz@ics.forth.gr 
    Stelios Louloudakis, FORTH-ICS, slouloudak@ics.forth.gr 

 

RISER Project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 101092993. The project is funded under the call on “Digital and emerging technologies for competitiveness and fit for the green deal”.
Further information: https://bit.ly/HaDEA_call_digital-Green-Deal