Dell on Tuesday announced a prototype low-power server
powered by ARM processors, which will help its customers
test and develop applications for ARM servers.
Dell began testing ARM server technology internally in
2010 in response to increasing demands for density and
power efficiency.
The proof-of-concept server is code-named "Copper" and
is the first one from Dell that is based on the ARM
processor. Dell will not sell the server, but will
install prototypes at specific locations to support
their development activities.
Dell believes ARM infrastructures demonstrate promise
for web front-end and Hadoop environments, where
advantages in performance per dollar and performance per
watt are critical. Dell said it would bring ARM servers
to general availability "at the appropriate time."
Dell is working to enable software development for
ARM-based server solutions, together with Canonical and
Cloudera.
Dell "Copper" ARM server specifications
Form factor:
3U chassis
48 independent servers
Architecture:
1S 1.6GHz, quadcore Marvell Armada XP system on a chip
(SoC)
4 discrete server nodes per sled
12 sleds per 3U chassis
Memory:
1 DIMM slot
DDR3 UDIMM VLP, 1333MHz
up to 8GB per node
Drive bays: 1 x 2.5" SATA per node
Hard disk drives: 2.5" SATA (7.2K rpm)
Networking: 1GB Marvell Ethernet uplink per node
(QSGMII) connected to Marvell Integrated L2 Switch
(98DX4122)