It is now well publicized in the non-tech media that the Intel and ARM IP-based processors are waging a turf war as their once disparate and discrete domains have begun to blur. ARM, once the underdog primarily relegated to developing its technology for mobile phones, has made significant inroads into a number of embedded verticals as power performance has risen to the top of many OEMs requirements as a function of the ubiquitous trend toward mobility.
As ARM’s product roadmap has continued to target larger, more sophisticated devices and Intel, drawn by the allure of high unit shipments, has simultaneously begun to retarget embedded and mobile systems, the most obvious battleground has been that for converged devices (i.e. high-end smartphones, MIDs, netbooks, tablets, etc.). Additionally, although Intel’s lead in the traditional PC market has been largely unchallenged, the growing functionality and use of mobile devices has begun to cannibalize its future growth potential. The one area where Intel’s dominance had remained largely unassailed was its presence in the IT server market.
ARM’s announcement of the A15 certainly is an overt challenge for the future of this evolving market. If nothing else, the proliferation of embedded and mobile devices has vastly increased the volume and frequency of information processing between systems and devices, and across the cloud. The subsequent need for real-time interpretation and analysis of this data is already beginning to tax existing infrastructure. This looming need for additional server storage and processing power – combined with the growing focus on power efficiency – should present ARM with ample opportunities to gain traction in this domain going forward. Although it may be years before any ARM IP design wins begin appearing in enterprises in a noticeable frequency, the potential shake-up to the enterprise ecosystem is more intriguing.
As you might expect, the x86-dominated server market has a relatively conventional landscape of operating systems in use – predominately Windows, Linux, and other UNIX variants. The embedded market, on the other hand, has a much more heterogeneous set of OS suppliers offering an array of proprietary and open source options. As a result, the entrance of ARM into the server market might destabilize the competitive dynamic between the operating systems currently used in the domain. For example, although Microsoft has embedded offerings available for ARM architectures (Windows CE/Mobile/Phone 7), Red Hat and Novell distanced themselves from the embedded market long ago. At the same time, however, we have also seen one of the leading embedded real-time OS suppliers (Green Hills Software) begin proactively targeting the enterprise with the announcement of their INTEGRITY Global Security subsidiary. Will an Intel-owned VxWorks ultimately follow suit (for either x86- and/or ARM-based servers)? Will public/RYO embedded distributions of Linux continue their rate of growth in this new segment?
One thing is for certain, the status quo is losing some of its inertia and ARM is going to do its best to stop it all together.
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