ARM server future

While talking about ARM server future, Calxeda should be considered first who initially jumped into ARM server fray. Calxeda EnergyCore ECX-1000 (based on the ARMv7 spec and only support 32-bit processing and memory addressing and 4GB memory) were introduced in November 2011. This year Calxeda is planning a Cortex-A15 core.It's chip code named "Midway" and supports 40-bit memory addressing and the memory to 16GB. This chip claims to be having twice the performance and enhanced virtualization. In 2014 they will make a move to the ARMv8 core with its "Lago" system-on-chip, providing 64-bit processing and memory addressing. Lago will help to double the performance of the processor and more than 100,000 nodes. Moreover, an ARM SoC from Calxeda called "Ratamosa" aimed at full-on enterprise applications and supercomputing workloads will also have performance enhancements.

Applied Micro wanted to be first with 64-bit ARM servers with ARM chip suitable for modern, cloudy servers .They launched X-Gene multi-core SoC based on ARMv8 design in October 2011. Initial X-Gene chip is supposed to sample in the first quarter of 2013 with being in market at the end of this year.

Marvell, Nvidia, AMD, Cavium and Samsung are also runners in the competitions although not so solid announcements made by these companies.

Many companies are working on  processors and interconnects.  So open source Linux operating system might be natural fit for the ARM chips.Chip developers and software providers can get help from Linux easily.