The Intel Atom processor is the company’s ticket into the lucrative tablet and smartphone market. It’s slowly working its way into more mobile devices, but Intel will now offer its low-power processing solution to servers as well.
Intel announced today that its Atom S1200 is the world’s first 6-watt server-class processor. It’s a system on-chip processor that features lower-power levels, error code correction, 64-bit support and virtualization technologies.
“The data center continues to evolve into unique segments and Intel continues to be a leader in these transitions,” said Diane Bryant, vice president and general manager of the Datacenter and Connected Systems Group at Intel. “We recognized several years ago the need for a new breed of high-density, energy-efficient servers and other datacenter equipment. Today, we are delivering the industry’s only 6-watt SoC that has key datacenter features, continuing our commitment to help lead these segments.”
As for the processor itself, it will feature two physical cores and total of four threads enabled with Intel’s Hyper-Threading technology. It also supports up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM and eight lanes of PCI Express 2.0 devices. As for x86 software, the new processors will continue to support legacy applications that are still used in datacenters today.
The new Atom processors are just the start for low-power servers. Intel is now working on an Atom successor named Avoton that will be available next year. It will feature even further SoC capabilities and use Intel’s 3D Tri-Gate 22nm transistors.
As for those who prefer Intel’s Xeon processors, the company will be out with a new version of its most popular server processor as well. The new Xeons will be based on the company’s Haswell architecture and feature new energy-saving options.
Customers can start ordering the new Atom S1200 processor today starting at $54 in quantities of 1,000. Find more information here.
