SAN JOSE, Calif. — Intel Corp. will revamp its next-generation notebook microprocessor for use in servers as the first in a series of low-power server CPUs the company will release starting later this year.
Intel’s Sossaman is a 31W server chip that will ship in the first half of 2006. It is a variant tweaked to support dual-processor servers of Yonah, a 32-bit dual-core Pentium M to be released in the first quarter.
Sossaman marks the lowest power consumption Xeon CPU Intel has offered to date and one of the first of a new line of low voltage parts the company plans. Going forward, Intel will provide three tiers of server CPUs — high-end parts focused on performance, midrange parts optimized for rack-mounted servers and low-power parts for “ultradense” systems such as server blades.
Intel did not provide details about its road map for low-volt server parts beyond Sossaman. Nor would the company comment on power consumption levels for future low-power parts.
“We would like to be in the 30-50W range and will drive down as low as we can go,” said Stephen Thorne, a marketing manager in Intel’s server group.
Thorne said Intel will not provide in 2006 low power versions of its Dempsey or Woodcrest Xeon CPUs that will ship next year.
Intel’s latest Xeon, a 3-GHz device with 2 Mbytes of L2 cache dubbed Irwindale, is currently available in an 110W version. A midrange version at less than 90W and a low power version at 55W will ship in the next few weeks, the company said.
“We’re moving to a three-rung ladder, and we’re taking low power parts mainstream,” said Thorne. “Historically, we have only made such parts available for the embedded and telco markets. Now we are manufacturing and marketing them for a broader scale of systems,” he added.
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