Intel updates server processors

Intel has announced faster and more power-efficient Xeon server processors, including the low-power E3 chip that has 3D transistors and is the first server processor based on Ivy Bridge microarchitecture, Computerworld UK reports.

The new processors include the eight Xeon E5-4600 chips for midrange servers and 11 low-power Xeon E3 chips for microservers, which are low-power servers designed mainly for Web serving and cloud applications. A number of server makers, including Dell, IBM, HP, Lenovo, Quanta and Cisco Systems, are expected to announce servers based on the new chips.

According to V3, Intel is pitching its E5-2400 line in the small and medium-sized business market. The new chips will boast improved performance and hardware density, while also offering improved energy-efficiency and performance per watt.

Meanwhile, the E3-1200 chips will target the low-end server and high-performance workstation markets.

Designed primarily for low-end systems and microserver applications, the E3 chips will be Intel's lowest-power Xeon server models and will also sport 3.6 times higher performance from previous-generation rack servers.

Intel later this year also plans to announce a server chip based on its Atom processor code-named Centerton for microservers, InfoWorld writes.

Atom chips are mostly found in smartphones and tablets, and the new server chip variant will draw just six watts of power. Companies are already experimenting with servers with a congregation of low-power chips to deliver better performance-per-watt on lightweight and volume workloads such as Web transactions.

Intel may compete in the space with ARM-based chips, which are already being used in some servers from companies like HP.