New processors may add more performance, but the real focus is saving power.
In my last entry regarding IBM’s claim for new x86 technology for the datacenter, I mentioned I was trying to get an answer from IBM regarding details on the “silicon innovation” it used. That quest is ongoing, and I hope to find some actual technology, and not just marketing mumbo-jumbo at the heart of it. Keep checking back, I will give my report here.
Just a few weeks after Big Blue’s announcement, Intel announced it’s own datacenter-focused processor, and last week said it “culminated the transition to the company’s award-winning “Nehalem” chip design with the launch of the Intel Xeon 7500 processor series.”
The 7500 processors are being targeted at laptops and servers for increasing energy efficiency and computing speed.
Of course, with all the power these new chips will draw, power management is critical, and new device technologies such as gallium nitride are showing promise in the ability to better manage and convert power, cost effectively in a smaller footprint. For more on this, see my article, “The GaN Plan.”
~Ann Steffora Mutschler
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