A few days ago, ARM launched a low-power 64-bit server processor, coupled with Intel's Atom processor, to repeat the low-power server market. Although few users are preparing to purchase such servers, suppliers such as Dell and HP have joined the ranks of low-power servers. Among them, HP said it included the development of low-power servers in the latest product released by Project Moonshot, and will use Intel Atom-based chips.
According to senior executives of German software vendor Global Infinipool GmbH, cooling and energy consumption costs in data centers are becoming more expensive and IT administrators are facing increasing pressure. Therefore, a lower-power solution must be adopted to control costs, and increase capacity requirements. According to Research by Mercury Research, a PC component Research company, ARM's low-power processor may have a strong impact on Intel chips currently at the top of the server market pyramid.
Currently, Intel processor features high performance, while ARM is the top driver in energy control. Therefore, to seize the stable x86 market, ARM must take both energy consumption and performance into consideration. Roger Kay, president of the analysis company's Endpoint Technology, also said that ARM still cannot handle computing that is commonly needed, because it does not support 64-bit computing.
With the increasing cost control awareness of enterprise-level users and the more low-power and energy-saving market direction, server suppliers should want to take into account the x86 market with more stable performance and lower-cost low-power consumption market. In this way, the ARM server will benefit from this, but Intel lacks the awareness of low power consumption.
In short, whether it is ARM or Atom, the current time is not mature. ARM may not be ready to serve the entire data center, but it may take two or three years to prepare for it.