Microsoft presses Intel for 16-core Atom chip

From InfoWorld: Microsoft has asked Intel to develop a 16-core version of its low-power Atom chip for use in servers, part of a wider effort to reduce power consumption in its massive data centers, a Microsoft executive said Thursday.

There's a "huge opportunity" to improve energy efficiency by using servers based on small, low-power chip designs such as Intel's Atom and Advanced Micro Devices' Bobcat, said Dileep Bhandarkar, a distinguished engineer with Microsoft's Global Foundation Services, which runs the company's data centers.

The small chips use little power because they were designed for use in mobile computers such as netbooks. But they are also more energy-efficient for some server workloads than processors like Intel's powerful Xeon chips, Bhandarkar said in a speech at The Linley Group Data Center Conference in Silicon Valley.

Microsoft's data centers power mostly Web-centric applications like Bing, Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger, as well as hosted versions of business applications such as Sharepoint and Exchange.

It's no secret that Microsoft and other big data-center operators are experimenting with small, low-power chips. Vendors such as Dell are already selling servers based on Via's Nano processor. Bhandarkar's comments show Microsoft's keen interest in alternative designs and that it has made some specific requests to Intel and AMD.

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