14 DAY TRIAL // We've talked earlier today about Intel's very serious interest in special solutions for data centers, and now, it's about time to take yet another look at this topic, but this time around, from a fairly different perspective, namely Microsoft's. If you're wondering just what Microsoft has to do with data centers, the answer is quite simple: given the extent of the Redmond-based giant's online business (Bing doesn't run on thin air, you know?!), they need quite a lot of data-crunching power.
However, according to several reports, it seems that Microsoft's not quite happy with its current data center arrangements (at least in terms of hardware), and for this reason, it's actually pushing Intel into developing some server-oriented Atom chips, that would provide an higher level of computing power by featuring no less than 16 computing cores.
Most of Microsoft's data centers already use Intel Xeon technology, but the problem is that it's a bit too power hungry, and if the company wants to further extend its online reach without sending costs rocketing up, they need a new technology, that will still provide a very good level of efficiency, while requiring less power and generating less heat than current platforms.
And given the fact that we're talking about a top customer here, Intel will certainly take into consideration Microsoft's demand, especially since the chip manufacturer is already faced with some serious competition on the server market from both AMD (who's already developing cost-effective multi-core server chips and wants to further extend its market share) and, quite surprisingly, ARM, who's also a low-power chip expert.
Of course, guess that only time will tell just how Intel will manage this very complex situation, especially since they officially denied working on server-bound Atom CPUs up until now (but that can always change, need be).