Dell has unveiled a new server for Web applications that uses Via Technologies' Nano processors to reduce power consumption and increase density in the data center.
Dell's new XS11-VX8 servers pack Nano processors from Via Technologies.
(Credit: Dell)Up to 12 of the new XS11-VX8 servers can be fitted into into an industry-standard 2U chassis, each using 15 watts of power while idle and 29 watts at full load. The company claims the new server can reduce total cost of ownership by up to 34 percent.
"We know there are other solutions in the market, but I haven't seen anyone come close to our power numbers while being able to fit into an industry-standard chassis," said Drew Schulke, Data Center Solutions product manager with Dell.
Dell hopes that the XS11-VX8 will appeal to organizations that require lots of server capacity with low processing power, such as hosting providers, Web companies, and telecommunications companies. "Those sorts of customers told us they were buying lots of white tower boxes and stacking them in the data center to manage the workload, but that the cost in terms of power, cooling, and space was a problem. That's what this system addresses," Schulke said.
The release is a smart move for Dell, which has been losing market share to competitors such as Hewlett-Packard and IBM, which have been marketing hyper-scalable servers for high-density environments for some time, said Nathaniel Martinez, a program director with IDC. "This move also gives Dell another alternative to Intel, marking another shift in that relationship. If Intel wasn't offering attractive enough price breaks to power this sort of device, the company might have missed an opportunity," Martinez added.
For customers in certain sectors, the announcement is good news, according to Clive Longbottom, a research director with Quocirca. "It's a specialist solution but one that I think should be considerably cheaper than building a new data center," he said.
Sally Whittle of ZDNet UK reported from London.
This was originally posted at ZDNet's Between the Lines.
Dell will reportedly use Via Technologies chips in select low-power servers.
According to The New York Times' Ashlee Vance, Dell will unveil a system that has 12 full servers running on Via's Nano chip. Each server will consumer 15 watts of power.
Dell is expected to unveil the Via-powered systems next week.
For Via, Dell would be a huge win. Via is a player in the Netbook market, but Intel and AMD own the server market. Dell will pitch these servers to Web-hosting companies. However, don't expect much in the way of performance.
Vance writes:
Running at just 1.3GHz or 1.6GHz, the Via chips sit very low on the performance totem pole when it comes to server chips. But it's the chip's lower speed and other architecture tweaks helps it keep power consumption and costs low. For example, the new Dell servers cost less than $400 a pop, which is just a fraction of the cost of a typical server.
AMD and Intel are likely to scoff at such performance, but for Via, Dell is a big win that may lead to more customers.
For the first quarter, IDC reports that Via had a market share of 0.4 percent compared to Intel and AMD's 77.3 percent and 22.3 percent, respectively. In the mobile market, Via had market share of 0.7 percent.
Samsung's NC20 Netbook shows that Via Technologies' Nano processor can keep up with the Joneses. But will Nvidia be given the chance?
CNET Reviews' Dan Ackerman reviewed the new Samsung NC20 Netbook and found it not wanting in a matchup with the Asus Eee PC 1000HE, packing Intel's latest and greatest Atom N280.
Samsung NC20 Netbook packs a Via Nano processor--not an Intel Atom.
(Credit: CNET Reviews)Though Nano is a necessary industry antidote to Intel's grip on the Netbook market, in the scheme of market share numbers, Via's chip is a blip at best.
I find it almost amusing when Intel lists Via as one of two competitors (Advanced Micro Devices being the other) in its Form 10-K filings. It's a fair analogy to say it's like a mom-and-pop coffee shop among a dense cluster of Starbucks stores. You may draw a few customers but 99 percent of the market is going to go to Starbucks.
Via helped pioneer the Netbook market in early 2008 by powering one of the earliest high-profile products, the Hewlett-Packard 2133 Mini-Note. In fact, Via was already supplying the inexpensive, low-power Via C7M--Nano's predecessor--in 2005 when the Atom concept was just a glimmer in Intel's eye.
The Netbook market vacuum didn't last long, however. Within months of Atom's arrival, the Via C7M was squashed by the Intel juggernaut, not to rise again. (Largely due to the fact that the C7M was slow, as one reader points out.)
The sober reality is that Via faces the same daunting challenge that Nvidia does: competing with Intel. The largest Netbook vendors--Asus and Acer--are wedded to Intel processors and chipsets, as are most of the other major players. An incremental increase in processor performance from Via won't necessarily tempt PC makers to drop Atom.
Nvidia's predicament is even more difficult because the GPU supplier can offer something that Intel can't: great graphics performance in a Netbook.
Nvidia faces a Catch 22. It needs a lot of Netbook design wins to make decent profit margins but customers won't sign up for Nvidia's Ion in the face of Intel's bundling incentives.
Alas, Nvidia's Ion seems destined only for tiny desktops for now. Nvidia has been shopping its Ion platform (Atom + Nvidia 9400M graphics) around and has had some success with top-tier PC companies looking to design diminutive desktops. But not any success to date in the Netbook space (although some smaller Asia-based Netbook makers are expected to announce Ion-based Netbooks at Computex in June).
Then there's Tegra. This Nvidia chip platform may have more success in the category of so-called "$99" Netbooks that are more akin--in the way they are offered to customers--to cell phones than laptops. These Netbooks, as depicted by Qualcomm, would be always-on and not part of the WinTel (Windows-Intel) ecosystem.
Nvidia went out of its way this week to demonstrate a concept device at CTIA in Las Vegas running Windows CE. Nvidia basically tore out the guts of an Intel-based HP Mini 1000 Netbook and replaced it with Tegra parts, according to a Nvidia spokesman Derek Perez, who attended CTIA this week.
Are Netbooks ripe to be resized? Via Technologies thinks so. The Intel-compatible chipmaker says larger Netbooks are on the way.
Via Nano processor
(Credit: Via Technologies)In an interview, Glenn Henry, the head of Via Technologies subsidiary Centaur Technology, said that Via has just begun commercial shipments of its Intel-compatible, power-sipping Nano processor. Centaur headed up development of the Nano processor.
"We just started shipping to customers last week and this week--literally right now," Henry said.
Henry said there is a lot of demand for larger form factors. "Everyone wants to build a (Netbook) of some variety these days. Most of the interest we see from customers is for a larger screen than the HP (2133). There's a lot of demand to move those things up to higher screen sizes. I've heard customers say they want to build 12- or 13-inch notebooks," Henry said.
Via's most illustrious customer is Hewlett-Packard, which currently uses the older Via C7 processor in its 2133 Mini-Note PC.
Though Henry refused to talk about design wins, he did say that there is interest from major companies. "We've given them (HP) samples," he said. Though Henry qualified this by saying that Via has given samples to a lot of potential customers. "There's a great deal of interest in the part from people whose name you would recognize," he said.
The Nano processor is seen as the only real competition for Intel's popular Atom chip, which is used in Netbooks from a long list of companies including Acer, Asus, Lenovo, and Dell.
The 2.6-pound HP 2133 Mini-Note uses the Via C7 processor.
(Credit: Hewlett-Packard)There is one crucial difference with the Atom. Nano has a thermal envelope of 5 watts at 1GHz. Though this is low compared with a standard Intel Core 2 mobile processor (typically drawing 25 watts to 35 watts), this is higher than Intel's single-core Atom chip for netbooks which tops out at just 2 watts. At 1.3GHz, Nano has a thermal envelope of 8 watts, approaching that of Intel's dual-core Atom.
Why the difference? Nano uses a more sophisticated superscalar, out-of-order design, while Atom has a more simple "in-order execution" architecture. Because of Nano's more complex design, it may deliver better performance than Atom in some cases.
The thermal envelope, however, is important because it can influence the design of a Netbook-type device. Typically, parts with lower thermal envelopes can go into smaller devices.
On the upside, Nano can be plugged directly into a design that uses the older C7 processor. "One of the very interesting things about the Nano is that it's plug compatible with our current C7s. You can plug the part into the same socket." Though some adjustments must be made: A BIOS upgrade is necessary and "more importantly the part has a different power-versus-megahertz (paradigm) compared to the current part because it's running benchmarks two times faster," Henry said.
He said products using the Nano processor will not appear immediately. "No product that actually uses this is for sale to the end customer (yet). So the parts we're shipping are going into the (customer's) manufacturing process or development process."
And what about a Via dual-core processor? "We're working on it. When you see it, who knows. We're implementing it but it's not near at hand," Henry said.
(Note: There are several ways to categorize a design as a netbook. One is screen size. Typically netbooks have 7-, 8-, or 9-inch screens. But this definition is in flux with, for example, the newest Atom-processor-based Eee PC 1000 that sports a 10-inch screen. So, as netbooks get redefined upward, the silicon inside--and other hardware--becomes the defining factor, i.e., low-power, low-performance processors and graphics that dictate how the computer should be used: primarily as a Net-centric device for Web browsing and email. Prices will also typically be lower than standard notebooks.)
Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry is examining three reports of overheating iPod Nanos sparking fires, Reuters reported.
The first-generation iPod Nano.
(Credit: Apple)The government agency said Apple had reported two other cases in which people had suffered minor burns.
The trade ministry said iPod Nanos with known overheating incidents were sold in Japan between September 2005 and September 2006.
Faulty batteries may be the cause of the incidents, the agency said.
Batteries have been traced to a host of issues with laptops and other mobile devices. Apple was one of several companies that had to recall notebooks in 2006 after problems led to overheating and fires.
Apple officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
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