Intel Rolls-Out Atom Processors for Servers

From X-bit Labs: Intel Corp. on Tuesday introduced the Intel Atom processor S1200-series designed for servers. The new chips support numerous server features to achieve server-class reliability, manageability as well as cost effectiveness and are among the most power-efficient server-class solutions in the world. Previously known as Centerton processors, the Atom S1200-series feature 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. 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," said Diane Bryant, vice president and general manager of the datacenter and connected systems group at Intel.

The Intel Atom processor S1200 product family is the first low-power SoC delivering required data center features that ensure server-class levels of reliability and manageability while also enabling significant savings in overall costs. The SoC includes two physical cores and a total of four threads enabled with the Hyper-Threading technology. The SoC also includes 64-bit support, a memory controller supporting up to 8GB of DDR3 memory, Intel Virtualization technologies (Intel VT), eight lanes of PCI Express 2.0, error-correcting code (ECC) support for higher reliability, and other I/O interfaces integrated from Intel chipsets. The new product family will consist of three processors with frequency ranging from 1.6GHz to 2.0GHz and looks as follows:

Atom S1220 - dual-core with Hyper-Threading, 1.60GHz maximum clock-speed, 1MB L2 cache, 8.1W thermal design power
Atom S1240 - dual-core with Hyper-Threading, 1.60GHz maximum clock-speed, 1MB L2 cache, 6.1W thermal design power
Atom S1260 - dual-core with Hyper-Threading, 2.0GHz maximum clock-speed, 1MB L2 cache, 8.5W thermal design power

As public clouds continue to grow, the opportunity to transform companies providing dedicated hosting, content delivery or front-end web servers are also growing. High density servers based on low-power processors are able to deliver the desired performance while at the same time significantly reduce the energy consumption – one of the biggest cost drivers in the data center. However, before deploying new equipment in data centers, companies look for several critical features.

The Intel Atom S1200 product family is also compatible with the x86 software that is commonly used in data centers today. This enables easy integration of the new low-powered equipment and avoids additional investments in porting and maintaining new software stacks.

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