SeaMicro Puts Netbook Processors to Work in Super-Green Web Server

SANTA CLARA, CA — In tech time, three months is forever. At the end of March, we reported that researchers in Germany had developed an efficient supercomputer using discount parts intended for netbooks. And this week, previously stealth tech startup SeaMicro released a new high-performance server that puts that research to work.

SeaMicro's SM10000 x86-server uses 512 Intel Atom processors -- more commonly found in netbooks and other light-weight computing applications -- to achieve massive computing power with a small energy footprint.

The server is optimized for performing internet-focused tasks, and CEO Andrew Feldman realized started work over three years ago on servers that would perform more efficiently for delivering thousands of small requests simultaneous rather than dealing with one big job at a time.

By shifting to smaller, more efficient processors in larger scale, SeaMicro says customers will save huge will lead to huge savings for customers: As the chart below shows, the lower the CPU utilization of the server, the more a company will save year over year, as unused processors are powered down to save energy.

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SeaMicro Puts Netbook Processors to Work in Super-Green Web Server

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