Earlier this year it was smartphone and tablet parts, and now it seems the humble Atom is gunning for the micro server market.
HP and Quanta QCT have already announced plans to launch Atom based micro-servers by the end of the year. The designs will use server oriented Atoms, codenamed Centertron. The chips have been specifically designed for low-consumption servers and if Intel's previous Z-series mobile chips are anything to go by, they could offer impressive performance per watt.
The ARM alliance has been eyeing the server market for quite a while, but although ARM chips offer even better power consumption than Atoms, the need for x86 compatibility seems to outweigh the advantages.
Competition in the low-power server market is expected to heat up in 2013 and 2014, so we could see Intel battling ARM on two fronts quite soon. We believe that Intel stands a much better chance in the server space than in the booming mobile segment.
More here.