“The cost of real estate and electricity are two of the major
problems of doing business in Silicon Valley–a situation that
several companies coming out with Transmeta-based servers hope to
exploit. RLX Technologies, Rebel.com and two other server start-ups
will release Web servers in the near future that contain Crusoe
processors from Transmeta, among other architectural enhancements,
rather than chips from Intel or Sun Microsystems.”
“Originally targeted at the notebook market, the Crusoe chip
has emerged as a contender in the Web server area, these
companies assert, because it consumes less power than competing
processors. By requiring less power, servers containing the chip
emit less heat, consume less energy and can be squeezed into
smaller cases.”
“And as application service providers and e-commerce sites find
themselves forced to install banks containing hundreds of servers,
lower power consumption can translate into huge advantages.
Astronomical utility costs, independent generators, super-cooled
operation rooms, and an insatiable need for more floor space are
all part of life for hosting companies. If the cooling systems
break down, servers can actually melt, prompting angry calls from
clients.”