Sidney

One of the server chips Intel will release next year comes from an unusual place: its notebook group.

Sossaman, the code-name for a Xeon chip for blade servers due in the first half of 2006, derives from the Pentium M family, the company's notebook chip family, said Stephen Thorne, marketing manager of the server platform group at Intel. Sossaman puts out a maximum of 31 watts, fairly low for server chips, which can boast thermal ceilings of 110 watts.

"We get a number of deployments where power is a big concern," he said.

To this end, Intel will also release two low-power versions of the Irwindale Xeon chip in late 2005 that consume a maximum of 90 and 55 watts respectively. The low-power Irwindales adopt some energy-efficiency techniques from the Pentium M but are largely based on the architecture of the existing Xeon line, which derives from the Pentium 4.

The chip--part of a server chip roadmap update from Intel--underscores the growing problem of power consumption, but also the increasing influence of the Pentium M, a chip designed in Intel's Israel facilities with energy efficiency in mind.

http://news.com.com/Intel+borrows+fr...l?tag=nefd.top

__________________
lazyman

Opteron 165 (2) @2.85 1.42 vcore AMD Stock HSF + Chill Vent II