HP Building Servers Using ARM-based SoCs

Dow Jones Newswires reports that HP has teamed up with semiconductor start-up Calxeda to develop servers based on ultra low-power ARM chips. These servers will be focused on companies who build large data centers and need to lower both their physical footprint and overall energy consumption. These companies include those who deal with cloud computing, the Internet, and those looking to do analysis on their data.

ARM is actually an investor in the Austin, Texas-based Calxeda. According to reports, the first reference design will be based on an ARM Cortex-A9 quad-core SoC. Server builders will be able to design systems as dense as 120 ARM quad-core nodes (480 cores) in a 2U enclosure, with an average consumption of around 5W per node (1.25W per core). The chips may be manufactured at Globalfoundries using 45-nm or 28-nm process technology.

Naturally HP, ARM and Calxeda declined to comment on partnerships that have not been made public. However last week ARM Vice President Michael Inglis said that ARM-based chips will first appear in server machines used to support basic access to websites, and then move up to more powerful systems. "As we move forward into 2014, you'll begin to see systems emerging," he said.

Meanwhile Intel seemingly doesn't take ARM's entry into the server market as an immediate threat. "We don't take any threats to our server business lightly, but there are a number of challenges for the ARM architecture to be successful in the server market," Intel spokesman Bill Calder said. "We believe the best-performing platform will win."

In addition to working with HP, unnamed sources report that Calxeda is also talking with other major server makers, storage vendors and other companies about using its processors in their products. Partnerships are expected to be announced within the next few months. Karl Freund, Calxeda vice president of marketing, said the company is in various stages of discussions with many partners about bringing products to market.

Kevin Parrish
Contributor

Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.

  • uruquiora
    does that means appls will need rewriting to run on those ?
    Reply
  • saturnus
    They don't need to. Most servers that are relevant run linux which runs on all processors.
    Reply
  • saturnus
    It was obvious that the involved analyst was talking about linux as a popular desktop platform. The server world is dominated by linux.
    Reply
  • GreaseMonkey_62
    This would be great for a low power home server.
    Reply
  • zodiacfml
    Intel has many options for this kind of competition.
    Reply
  • Thunderfox
    Running linux may solve the OS problem, but software will still have to be recompiled and tweaked for a new hardware platform. If a company has invested in any commercial software for x86 linux, they will probably have to repurchase the Arm version of it.
    Reply
  • CyberAngel
    These ill only cost an ARM
    Reply
  • cyberkuberiah
    CyberAngelThese ill only cost an ARMnicely put :)
    Reply
  • alidan
    for the server market, power wont always be the decideing factor, there is also cost to run the servers, and arm is significantly lower power than intel, and as for speed, arm is getting faster and faster without the nead of an elaborate heat sync.

    this could honestly be the begining of a power shift for arm and intel.

    if arm succedes in the server market, it will cross to the desktop, now, 1 arm cpu wont really be powerfull enough there, i was trying to figure out how much the cpus cost, but google has been failing me there, however i did come across this, "$0.10 per processor shipped" its the cost that they pay arm on average per chip, or how much they get, so im assumeing that r&d for chips is sinificantly less of a cost than for intel and amd,

    now im assumeing that you can slap 4 of these quad core ones into a single computer and come out less than a single quad form intel.

    an essentially noiseless cpu with low heat? 16 threads? ass time evolves its obvious that applications WILL be threaded, once that happens, will intel/amd be able to compete with what arm has to offer? they may not be able to compete on clock per clock, but on the same power draw of a quad core intel sandy bridge, or amd phenom II

    intell being 95 watt
    amd being 125 watt
    arm being 5 watt

    you can fit 19-25 cpus in a pc at same powerdraw, space may be an issue there though, and no idea on cost,
    Reply
  • larkforsure
    Complaint about Human Rights Violations by IBM China on Centennial

    Please Google:

    IBM detained mother of ex-employee on the day of centennial
    or
    How Much IBM Can Get Away with is the Responsibility of the Media
    or
    Tragedy of Labor Rights Repression in IBM China
    Reply