Dell uses Via Nano in new servers
DELL IS NOT exactly well known for taking a walk on the wild side, but the firm's decision to use Via Nano chips in a line of servers has raised eyebrows and elicited some impressed whistles.
The firm has stuffed 12 server boards with Nano chips, Via's low power - but also low performance - chips, into one 2U chassis.
It is a gutsy move for straight-laced Dell. Most of the firm's servers are three times the size - and at least three times the price.
Even when running the full dozen 1.3GHz Nano U2250 chips at full tilt, the system consumes less that 30 watts, a tenth of the draw of most other servers available.
It's cheaper too, costing only about $400 compared to a $3,000 Dell server packing an AMD 2.7GHz Shanghai processor or a $6,000 2.93GHz Intel Nehalem server.
That said, the cheap-as-its-chips system isn't made for mass production, having been cobbled together by Dell's DCS unit, a semi-autonomous group within the firm that creates made-to-order kit for well-to-do customers.
DCS customers tend to be search engines, social media sites and large HPC sites that want hardware tailored to their specific needs. The Nano servers are able to run 64-bit operating systems and seem especially suited to Web hosting.
Dell's XS11-VX8 is certainly experimental, but you can bet Intel and AMD will be watching the move closely as Via makes a nano step at impinging on their x86 server chip market duopoly. µ
L'Inq
New York Times
See Also
Dell's DCS unit explains its "one of a kind" mission
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The 2U chassis features 12 servers, with EACH server consuming 15-30W. Not 30W in total for all servers running as implied in your article.
"Next week, Dell plans to reveal a rather original system design that places 12 full servers running on Via’s Nano chip in a 3.5-inch-high case. That’s three times as many servers as Dell usually squeezes into similar, compact systems. Equally important, each server will consume 15 watts to 30 watts, or about one-tenth the power of a standard server."
As James points out, each VX8 server module has a TDP of 30W - not the entire chassis.
Also, $400 is the price per module - not for a fully loaded chassis.
The Nano processors are being used because they're low power and virtualisation capable, so that server management gains the advantages of hardware independence and capacity changes on demand.
(Beauty) x (Brains) = Constant
With a few exceptions, this law holds good. It also applies to this article.
This sounds like a good low power custom Linux server platform.
The Nano has some nice features - I'm guessing that its somewhat unique encryption extensions might be quite useful in a lot of web-based applications.
I wonder how a rack of these compares to something like Niagara (each core is slow but it has many cores).