The bottom is moving up and Microsoft is looking for more power out of Atom. In case you didn’t know Atom doesn’t just appear in Netbooks, it also has a server line and its looking for a 16-core version of its Atom processor. If Intel could raise the bar on its low power CPUs it would become an alternative to mainstream chips for use in data servers.
Dileep Bhandarkar, an engineer at Microsoft’s Global Foundation Services, suggested that higher-power Intel chips, like Xeon, more commonly used in servers, require too much power and active cooling in return for their higher clock speeds according to PC World.
“When you look at these tiny cores, another way of making them work in a very efficient way is [not to] surround them with a whole bunch of south bridges and network controllers. … Essentially, the tiny cores and systems-on-chip should go together” Dileep Bhandarkar, Microsoft
ARM has been working on server processors and there was the news from Nvidia about Project Denver where they will be using ARM chips to create a server to mobile solution. Its not here yet but the proposition pushes the ecosystem for a more effective x86 solution.
Via SlashGear
