Power problems plague PCs, servers
Electricity is a computer's lifeblood, but after 2006, many in the industry probably wish they had steam-powered machines.
Several PC makers reckoned with the public-relations nightmare of smoking, flaming and sometimes exploding laptop computer batteries. For server makers, it was the year companies tried to boost performance without crippling air conditioning units in the data center.
The battery issue began in earnest in August, when Dell announced a recall of more than 4 million batteries made by Sony. Apple Computer followed with a recall of another 1.8 million, and the problem also hit Lenovo, Sharp and Panasonic. Sony itself launched a recall for batteries used by several other computer makers, too. Adding insult to injury, a resulting shortage of working batteries curtailed some fourth-quarter sales already hit by Microsoft's Windows Vista delay in March.
On the server side, the industry took more serious measures to curtail heat problems. Sun plugged its UltraSparc T1 "Niagara"-based servers, which consume less power than typical x86 machines, and showed some success: in the second quarter of the year, Sun sold more than $100 million of the systems. That, plus $125 million in sales of x86 servers, were nice feathers in the cap of Jonathan Schwartz, named Sun's new chief executive in April as Scott McNealy stepped down.
Server makers using dual-core chips had new heat issues when Intel began shipping the first quad-core processors in November. Meanwhile, IBM touted the energy efficiency of its mainframes and Intel boasted that its new Itanium 2 9000 "Montecito" Itanium chip, which arrived in July, sucked down less juice.
At the beginning of the year, the greater energy efficiency of Advanced Micro Devices' Opteron chip helped the company make inroads against Intel's rival Xeon. Opteron rose to 26 percent of the x86 server market in the second quarter.
Intel fought back with its Xeon 5300 "Woodcrest" chip, the first Xeon to employ the Core architecture. It quickly spread to servers from Dell, IBM and Hewlett-Packard, and helped Intel regain server share against AMD in the third quarter.
Intel also congratulated itself for leading Apple through a faster-than-expected move to x86 chips from PowerPC. Apple, which turned 30 this year, completed its Intel-based PC transition with the unveiling of the Mac Pro in August.
Intel's restored competitiveness wasn't enough to keep Dell's complete loyalty, though. In May, Dell announced that it would sell Opteron servers, models that it delivered in October. Dell also began selling AMD-based desktops and notebooks.
Dell said it was changing its ways to meet customer demand. But in the meantime, Dell lost the PC market lead to longtime rival Hewlett-Packard in the third quarter. Both companies started taking the game market more seriously, with Dell acquiring Alienware and HP acquiring Voodoo PC.
--Stephen Shankland
2006 Highlights
Rising power consumption puts pressure on server makers to tame gear that's running hotter and hungrier.
February 1, 2006
Company to debut high-end Unix server without intended processor, thanks to Intel's continued chip release delay.
February 28, 2006
From the Apple II to the Mac to the iPod, Steve Jobs and company have kept on innovating--and gaining rabid fans along the way.
March 28, 2006
Jonathan Schwartz takes over as CEO from Scott McNealy, who stays on as chairman as the company grapples with profitability.
April 24, 2006
PC maker agrees to use Advanced Micro Devices' chips in multiprocessor servers by end of year.
May 18, 2006
Chipmaker debuts high-performance line of processors, beginning what it hopes is a company upswing.
July 18, 2006
Eager to close the books on the Pentium era, Intel and PC makers are rolling out dozens of systems based on the new chips.
July 27, 2006
Intel, AMD say they've learned lesson about staying cool, but first quad-core processors may make PCs perspire.
August 3, 2006
Inspiron, Latitude and Precision owners should check to see if they qualify for recall offer.
August 14, 2006
The Sun Microsystems processor will run 64 simultaneous instruction sequences when it debuts in servers in 2007.
August 23, 2006
The chipmaker plans to launch an internal computer communications system that mirrors a technology central to AMD's gains.
September 8, 2006
PC and server companies release gear powered by chips with four cores to entice performance-hungry customers.
November 13, 2006
