Intel Redefines Server Economics

For IT organizations looking for a more efficient approach to deploying servers, the 32-nanometer Xeon 5600 series can consolidate as many as 15 servers based on previous generations of Intel processors onto a single server, said Boyd Davis, Intel general manager for the data center marketing group.

Versions of the Xeon 5600 processor series are designed to consume as low as 40 watts of power, which is critical for IT organizations that need to expand processing capabilities without consuming any additional power.

Davis said Intel estimates that 80 percent of largely existing single-core servers will soon be replaced by more energy-efficient multi-core servers that can pay for themselves in about eight months.

Server vendors such as Hewlett-Packard are cutting that number down to two months with the addition of more sophisticated power management tools, said Krista Satterthwaite, manager for HP Proliant product marketing for industry-standard servers.

Key technologies that enable those savings are HP Thermal Logic, Dynamic Power Capping and Power Advisor software applications that can help reduce energy costs on average about $370,000 a year, she said. HP today is rolling out 16 Proliant G6 servers based on Xeon 5600 series processors.

Designed to replace the Xeon 5500 series, the new Xeon 5600 series processors create a major  opportunity to right-size performance and power consumption in the data center, Satterthwaite added.

The new Xeon 5600 series also includes Advanced Encryption Standard New Instructions and Trusted Execution Technology that is designed to reduce the overhead associated with security applications.