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Amazon Web Services begins using more efficient ARM-based server chips
Amazon's cloud business, Amazon Web Services (AWS), is launching ARM-based servers for its EC2 cloud computing service, the company announced on Monday at its re:Invent conference in Las Vegas.
AMD promises 64-bit ARM-based Opteron server CPUs coming in 2014
AMD has long stuck to x86 architecture for its server processors, but its gearing up to add 64-bit ARM-based Opteron CPUs to its arsenal in 2014. Sunnyvale also plans to reap the fruits of its SeaMicro acquisition by employing the company's "fabric" tech to link its ARM-based processors in clusters for maximizing efficiency. Where might these new processors come in handy? AMD thinks they'll fit nicely into clouds and "mega data centers" thanks to their power efficiency, but it'll let its x86-based hardware do the heavier lifting such as video encoding and rendering. Other details on the CPUs are scarce, but we suspect that'll change as 2014 approaches.
Mozilla calls Windows RT a return to the 'digital dark ages' for limiting browser choice, Google nods in agreement
Mozilla is waving red flags about Microsoft's forthcoming Windows RT (the variety designed to run on ARM processors). It's claiming that only the Internet Explorer browser will run under the much more (in computing terms) privileged Windows Classic environment. It claims this effectively makes IE the only fully functioning browser on the platform, with everything else being denied access to key computing functions (running as a Metro app). Mozilla argues that if IE can run in Windows (rather than Metro) on ARM, then there's no reason why the other browsers can't. Mozilla then goes on to extend an invitation to Microsoft to "remain firm on its user choice principles". Meanwhile it's not just the Moz that has taken umbrage at the move, with CNET reporting that Google also isn't happy with the situation, saying "We share the concerns Mozilla has raised regarding the Windows 8 environment restricting user choice and innovation." We'll have to wait and see what Microsoft's take on the matter is, but for now it looks like the browser wars are back on.
Series revisits ARM's humble beginnings, BBC Micro and all
If you read our interview with ARM co-founder John Biggs, you know the company behind the processor in most smartphones had quite modest beginnings, what with an office in a barn and all. But Biggs is only part of the story, and Reghardware fleshes the rest out with a two-part series on the "unsung heroes of tech": Sophie Wilson, Steve Furber and Herman Hauser, the team behind Acorn Computers, the British PC company that spawned ARM in the mid-80s. We'll let you click through to the source links to take the journey yourself, but here are a few highlights: earning a computer contract with the BBC, happening upon ARM chips' low power consumption by accident and striking gold thanks to a partnership with Apple.
TSMC ramps 28nm ARM Cortex-A9 chip to 3.1GHz, gives your desktop jitters
We know TSMC's energy-miser 28-nanometer manufacturing process has a lot of headroom, but the company just ratcheted expectations up by a few notches. Lab workers at Taiwan's semiconductor giant have successfully run a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor at 3.1GHz under normal conditions. That's a 55 percent higher clock speed than the 2GHz maximum that TSMC normally offers, folks, and about twice as fast as a 40nm chip under the same workload. Don't expect that kind of clock speed from your next smartphone or tablet, though: expect processors of this caliber to find "high-performance uses," which takes us that much closer to NVIDIA's Project Denver as well as other ARM-based desktops, notebooks and servers that should give x86 chips a run for their money.
ARM announces new quad-core Cortex-A15 Hard Macro variant
It's pretty much a year to the day that we reported the possibility of a quad-core Cortex-A15 from ARM, and look what just came across the wire! It's the Cortex-A15 Hard Macro -- the first design from ARM we're aware of that packs four A15 cores. The Hard Macro edition is of particular interest as it aims to help manufacturers bring products to market more quickly and at a lower cost. The chip variant runs at 2GHz, with performance of over 20,000 DMIPS if you were wondering. Notably, it operates with the same power usage of the A9 hard macro, which should mean it's got good efficiency credentials, and it's the first in the family to be based on 28nm process. There's no indication where we might see this turning up, but with the firm spilling the full details at the IEEE Symposium later this week, we're sure we'll find out soon enough.
HP to announce ARM-based servers next month, throw Intel a curveball
Sources close to Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal say that HP is primed to help ARM wrestle its way into the server game next month, citing unannounced plans that may challenge Intel's corner on the market. HP is said to be working with Calxeda, an outfit with dreams of outclassing today's servers by selling OEMs an ARM-based system on a chip that can be used to build high performance racks with low energy footprints. ARM, HP and Calxeda all declined to comment, although a spokesperson for Calxeda mentioned that it has a product release event scheduled for November 1st. Intel doesn't seem too concerned, and told the Wall Street Journal that ARM architecture still had a few hurdles to jump before it was ready for the server game. "We believe the best-performing platform will win." Spoken like a true sportsman, Intel. Game on.
i.MX 6 quad-core reference board flexes processing muscle at Freescale Technology Forum
Freescale answered our power prayers with the introduction of its i.MX 6 processor suite at CES earlier this year, but left us longing for a demo. Well, the outfit's just given us all our first glimpse at the healthiest processing muscle in the bunch, the quad-core i.MX 6. Sporting four ARM Cortex A9 cores and a 64-bit memory bus, the reference design board can be seen running a 1080p video demo and Quake simultaneously -- and it didn't even break a sweat. Freescale says it's currently working with Google on making the processor Honeycomb-compatible, but don't get too excited; i.MX 6 won't make it into real-deal machines until 2012. If you've got an extra 20 minutes to spare, hop on past the break for a rather lengthy video of the processor at work.
Texas Instruments announces multi-core, 1.8GHz OMAP4470 ARM processor for Windows 8
When Qualcomm announced a pair of Windows 8-compatible ARM processors yesterday, we knew Texas Instruments wouldn't be far behind. Sure enough, the company has just announced a new addition to its OMAP 4 family of ARM SoCs, with the 1.8GHz OMAP4470. TI's new chip is powered by a pair of 1.0GHz ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore engines, as well as two, 266MHz ARM Cortex-M3 cores that handle multimedia duties. According to the company, this multi-core structure will enable faster web browsing and more frugal power usage, while putting the OMAP4470 in square competition with quad-core chips like NVIDIA's Kal-El and Intel's latest Sandy Bridge line. The SoC was designed for tablets, netbooks and smartphones running Android, Linux, or the next version of Windows, and can support a max QXGA resolution of 2048 x 1536, and up to three HD displays. There's also a single-core PowerVR SGX544 GPU capable of running Direct X 9, OpenGL ES 2.0, OpenVG 1.1, and OpenCL 1.1. The OMAP4470 is expected to hit the OEM and OED markets in the first half of 2012, but you can find more information in the specs sheet and press release, after the break.
ARM hopes to strengthen grip on mobile PCs, take 50 percent of the market by 2015
We've already heard rumors that chip designer ARM has been trying to get its wares into the Macbook Air. While we can't add anything to that particular story, we do have further evidence that ARM is going beyond smartphones and tablets in order to target bigger form factors. The company's president, Tudor Brown, has just appeared at Computex to declare that ARM wants to conquer the "mobile PC market", where the company currently only has a 10 percent share. He's aiming for 15 percent by the end of this year, and an Intel-provoking 50 percent by 2015. "Mobile PC" is a pretty ambiguous category, but we think it's safe to assume the focus is on low- and mid-power netbooks and ultraportables. Such devices could potentially run off ARM's forthcoming multi-core chips -- like perhaps the quad-core beast inside NVIDIA's mind-blowing Kal-El processor, or the more distant Cortex-A15. It's hard to imagine these tablet-centric chips ever competing with Intel's top performers, but four years is a mighty long time in this business.
Apple testing A5-packing MacBook Air?
We've seen it put its processing power behind the iPad 2 and heard rumors of its presence in the upcoming fifth-gen iPhone, but could Apple really be considering putting its mobile-minded A5 processor in a MacBook Air? According to Japanese website, Macotakara, a trial of the ARM chip is already underway. Apple's reportedly been experimenting with a Thunderbolt-equipped MacBook Air with the A5 on board, and "according to someone who has seen a model running with [Apple's] A5 processor, the performance is better than had been thought." Two weeks ago, we reported on rumors that the upcoming MacBook Air refresh could be on its way as early as next month, featuring Intel's Sandy Bridge 17W mobile processors -- a claim we'd say could hold water. Of course, this information has trickled a ways down the grapevine, and the presence of an A5-packing test vehicle doesn't mean much anyway, but you can consider our interest piqued, regardless.
Fujitsu's next-gen Milbeaut image processor does single-chip Hi-Vision video, 20MP stills
Fujitsu's latest image processor, the Milbeaut MB91696AM, has a new bag of tricks on tap, and it's fixing to unload them in April. The new Milbeaut sports ARM processors and a "newly-developed" Full HD H.264 codec engine, making for 14-megapixel shooting at 8fps (or about 20 megapixels at 5.5fps) and low-noise Hi-Vision video recording at 1920 x 1080. So the processor, in its sixth iteration, sports high resolution photos and HD video all on the same chip, and features continuous photography speeds up to five times faster than its predecessors. Fujitsu's got plans to show off Milbeaut's mobile solutions at MWC next week, and we wouldn't be surprised to see the MB91696AM make its debut in Barcelona as well. Either way, samples of the new processor is scheduled to ship starting in April for ¥3,000 (right around $36) a pop, which means new Milbeaut-equipped cameras won't shouldn't be far behind. Full PR after the jump.
Sifteo Cubes get FCC teardown, not so cute anymore
Sifteo's cute little gaming Cubes have grown up a lot over the past couple of months: they've undergone two name changes (from Siftables to Cubits to Cubes), experienced the gaming rites of passage at CES, and now these 1.5-inch full-color computers are making their FCC debut, including the ritual teardown. The not-so-cute internal photos show one of the Cubes, guts exposed, revealing a 32-bit ARM processor. Also buried in the FCC documents is evidence that the darling devices communicate with computers via a 2.4GHz USB dongle and sport a three-axis motion sensor. Sifteo's already sold out of its first round of pre-orders, but we're guessing we'll be seeing more of the adorable little guys sometime real soon.
IBM forms new partnership with ARM in hopes of developing ludicrously small chip processing technology
We've seen IBM and ARM team up before, but this week both companies announced a new joint initiative to develop 14nm chip processing technology. That's significantly smaller than the 20nm SoC technology ARM hopes to create in partnership with TSMC, and makes the company's previous work with IBM on 32nm semiconductors look like a cake walk. The potential benefits, though, are faster processors that require less power, and feature lower per unit manufacturing costs Who knows if or when we'll see tangible results from the tag team, but if IBM's Watson can beat Jeopardy champions, further reducing the average size of a feature that can be created on a chip should be elementary, right? To read over the full announcement check out the press release after the break.
Freescale announces i.MX 6 processor series, wants quad cores in your smartphone
Power. We need more. More for streaming video, more for playing games, and more just so that we can say we have it. Freescale hears us, and it's delivering the i.MX 6 series of mobile processors offering up to four ARM Cortex A9 cores at 1.2GHz each. That's plenty for 3D rendering on your car infotainment system, music-making on your smartphone, maybe a little SETI action on your next smart refrigerator. Even 1080p30 video encoding is a said to be within these chips' reach. i.MX 6 processors will be available in one, two, or four core configurations with up to 1MB of L2 cache. HDMI 1.4 support is onboard, along with gigabit Ethernet and USB 2.0, but sadly not 3.0. It seems there's always something to look forward to in the next revision, but that could be quite a wait with i.MX 6 sampling not set to begin until "later this year."
Freescale's new i.MX508 processor could mean cheaper, faster e-readers
E-readers are getting better without a doubt. But cheaper? Not so much. The upcoming Spring Design Alex will sell for $359 -- way out of reach for those who cruise the used book store scene. Freescale's i.MX508 processor might finally make these things more of a smart buy, an 800MHz ARM-based chip that includes, among other things, USB host functionality and dedicated circuitry for controlling E-Ink panels. It's effectively a system on a chip for the next-generation of would-be Kindle killers and it'll sell for just $10 at volume, resulting in more advanced readers that could, according to Freescale, retail for $150. That's the kind of price point that might just make Grandma stop digging through piles of dog-eared Stephen King books and get with the times.
ARM CEO says netbooks could eventually grab 90 percent of PC market
Think netbooks are on their way out? Not according to ARM CEO Warren East, who said in a recent interview with PC Pro that while netbooks now only represent 10% or so of the PC market, he believes that "over the next several years that could completely change around and that could be 90% of the PC market." Obviously, he also thinks that would be a huge boon to ARM, and notes that while the main CPU in most netbooks may not be an ARM processor, there are probably at least two or three ARM chips of some sort in each netbook sold. In fairness, we assume that East means netbooks will evolve significantly from their present state over those next several years -- but, still, ninety percent? Update: In the company's earnings call preceding the interview, Warren East also dropped a few tidbits about ARM's roadmap, noting that, "Cortex-A9 will comfortably run at those sorts of frequencies (1GHz) and, indeed, with physical IP optimization, we demonstrated can scale up to 2 gigahertz today." East further added that the "other Cortex-A9 has a lot more headroom to go, it's a multi-processor design, so you can have quad-core -- or up to quad-core implementation."
Rumor: Apple tablet said to be "iPhone on steroids"
If there's anything consistently consistent about the purported Apple tablet, it's that it's said to be, in essence, a larger iPhone. Expanding on this, Boy Genius Report cites its "close Apple contact" that claims the device is "an iPhone on steroids." Like its iPhone brethren, the tablet is said to sport an ARM processor, adding the caveat that the processor will be "incredibly fast." Also according to the report, the tablet will support multi-touch gestures that are said to be "out of control." Back in 2005, Apple acquired FingerWorks, a company that specialized in gesture-based computing. According to former Apple engineers, FingerWorks will have its footprint -- er, fingerprints -- on the purported tablet. The meat behind these potatoes is said to be the iPhone OS kernel. For this reason, there hasn't been an updated build of the iPhone OS out of fears that tablet-related references in the code would leak.
Marvell debuts quad core Armada ARM processor for kicking your mobile apps in the face
Marvell's already been showing some pretty great devices (like Spring Design's Alex, pictured) based on its Armada 500 (smartbook / nettop) and 600 (mobile) processors, but apparently that was just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. The real meat is in Marvell's newly announced quadcore versions of those very same GHz+ chips, which should put mobile devices into a different league power-wise -- at least until Marvell's competition hops on board. There's no telling how much these will cost or when they'll show up, but Marvell says they're aimed at the "mass consumer market" and "high volume gaming applications." Gaming, huh? Perhaps Tegra 2 has a little bit of competition in the prospective DS 2 chip race.
Archos phone tablet teased: Android, 4.3-inch touschscreen, 1GHz ARM processor
In an all-too brief teaser at a press conference across the pond, Archos decided to give a few more details and a teaser pic of the Android phone it announced back in February. According to the slide, it's got a 4.3-inch touchscreen with 854 x 480 resolution, a 1GHz ARM processor -- likely comparable to Archos 5, but pretty powerful considering what all other Android phones have so far arrived with -- and a 10mm-thick shell. Size and specs-wise, it matches up quite handily to the Snapdragon- and Windows Mobile-powered Toshiba TG01, although that one's already taking up retail shelf space, and it looks like we'll be waiting for some of those infamous Archos leaks if we want any more information the phone tablet in the near future.
