Red Herring: Transmeta’s chips charge into servers

“This year, at least four companies will release servers based
on Transmeta’s Crusoe processors. These aren’t upright tower
servers; they are slim, pizza box-shaped units designed to be
stacked in racks. Rack servers formed the fastest-growing segment
of the Intel-based server market last year, according to the market
research firm IDC. Their main requirements are low power and low
heat, which just happen to be Crusoe’s strong suits….”

“A space crunch in data centers worldwide is fueling demand for
so-called dense servers, which are designed to squeeze as many
processors into as small a box as possible. The densest Intel-based
machines from companies like Dell Computer, Compaq Computer, and VA
Linux Systems cram two Pentiums into one unit of rack space (about
1.7-by-17.6-by-22 inches). Because standard six-foot racks contain
42 units, that’s a total of 84 chips per rack….”

“Why don’t Dell and Compaq cram more Pentiums into their boxes?
The chips generate so much heat that adding more could bake the
computers from inside. Processors get hot when they consume lots of
electricity. Hence low-power chips like Transmeta’s Crusoe are well
suited for dense servers. What’s more, they can potentially slash a
data center’s electricity bill.”

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