????在智能手機市場上，ARM一直是一統(tǒng)江山的霸主。現(xiàn)在，這家英國公司試圖憑借強大的處理器設計能力進軍更大的設備——服務器。

????目前，利潤豐厚的數(shù)據(jù)中心市場由英特爾（Intel）生產(chǎn)的各類芯片主宰，ARM還沒能在這一市場上取得重大突破。不過，本周二上午，該公司迎來了重大的發(fā)展里程碑：在舊金山舉行的新聞發(fā)布會上，ARM宣布推出兩款全新的64位芯片。據(jù)其稱，這些芯片采用的新技術(shù)可將該公司目前生產(chǎn)的芯片性能提高3倍，同時保持其特有的低能耗，并能更好地適應企業(yè)需求，因為它能處理更大的內(nèi)存。盡管在手機中采用能效更高的芯片已成為主流，但對數(shù)據(jù)中心來說這還是個新生事物。如何降低數(shù)據(jù)中心的能耗和成本已成為業(yè)內(nèi)日益關注的問題，尤其對那些擁有大量服務器群的網(wǎng)絡公司來說更是如此。

????不過，與對手英特爾有所不同的是，ARM實際上并不生產(chǎn)芯片，它僅僅提供技術(shù)授權(quán)并收取授權(quán)費。所以，它在任何市場上的成功都有賴于客戶，即大型芯片制造企業(yè)的投入與配合。已有幾家公司與之簽訂了協(xié)議，約定基于ARM的全新架構(gòu)生產(chǎn)芯片。本周一，超威半導體公司（AMD）宣布將于2014年開始銷售基于ARM技術(shù)開發(fā)的全新服務器。盡管位于加州森尼維爾市的芯片制造企業(yè)AMD還將繼續(xù)開發(fā)其傳統(tǒng)的X86系列處理器（這也是英特爾的看家買賣），該公司于本周一上午發(fā)布的一則新聞通報則稱“數(shù)據(jù)中心的爆發(fā)式發(fā)展已帶來了全新的機遇，即用完全不同的解決方案來優(yōu)化計算” 。

????ARM的首席執(zhí)行官沃倫?伊斯特對《財富》雜志（Fortune）稱：“我們認為，AMD是至關重要的合作伙伴，因為它們已在服務器領域擁有極為廣泛的業(yè)務關系。”本來伊斯特計劃出席AMD本周一在舊金山舉行的新聞發(fā)布會，但由于“桑迪”颶風的緣故而滯留歐洲。于是他只得在倫敦的出租車后座上為我們發(fā)來了這段視頻。

????AMD并不是唯一一家希望將ARM推向服務器市場的公司。位于德克薩斯州奧斯汀市的嘉協(xié)達公司（Calxeda）近期剛完成一輪5500萬美元的融資，它表示，通過運用ARM的芯片架構(gòu)，將使“能效比現(xiàn)在基于商用X86芯片的服務器提升十倍”（ARM是該公司的原始投資方之一）。不過，即便ARM能取得成功，也不能指望它在服務器市場迅速獲得大量市場份額。據(jù)首席執(zhí)行官伊斯特稱，要到2020年公司才有望獲得20%的份額。更重要的是，英特爾絕不會坐視不管。它已經(jīng)在智能手機上被ARM搶走風頭了，因此絕不會在獲利豐厚的數(shù)據(jù)中心市場將市場份額拱手相讓。

????英特爾發(fā)言人喬恩?卡維爾稱：“我們會認真對待數(shù)據(jù)中心業(yè)務受到的任何潛在威脅，不過我們很有信心在微服務器市場發(fā)展進程中保持領先地位。憑借Atom和Xeon產(chǎn)品線，以及正在出貨或即將出貨的18款微服務器設計，我們擁有強有力的低功耗產(chǎn)品發(fā)展規(guī)劃。”

????譯者：清遠

????ARM Holdings (ARMH) rules the smartphone market. Now the British firm is trying to get its processor designs into somewhat larger gadgets -- servers.

????ARM has yet to make any significant inroads into lucrative data centers currently dominated by a different breed of chips that are manufactured by Intel (INTC). But the company hit a significant milestone Tuesday morning, when it announced two new 64-bit processor designs at a press event in San Francisco. According to ARM, the new technology can deliver triple the performance of its current chips while retaining its signature energy efficiency, and is better suited to meet enterprise needs because it can handle larger amounts of memory. While more efficient chips are a mainstay in tiny cell phones, they're new to data centers, where keeping energy -- and cost -- down is an increasing concern, especially to web companies with large server farms.

????But unlike its rival Intel, ARM doesn't actually manufacture any chips, it simply licenses its technology and collects royalties. So its success in any market relies on the commitment from its customers, large chipmakers. Several companies have already signed on to make chips based on ARM's new architecture. On Monday, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) announced it would start selling a new server products based on ARM's technology by 2014. While the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based chipmaker will continue to develop its traditional line of X86 processors (Intel's bread and butter), an AMD release issued Monday morning said that the "explosion of the data center has brought with it an opportunity to optimize compute with vastly different solutions."

????"From our point of view AMD is significant because of the relationships they already have in the server world today," ARM's chief executive officer Warren East told Fortune. East had originally been scheduled to make an appearance at AMD's own press conference Monday in San Francisco, but was stuck in Europe due to Hurricane Sandy and instead issued this video from the back of a London cab.

????AMD's not the only company hoping to push ARM into the server world. Austin, Texas-based Calxeda recently closed a $55 million funding round to deliver "as much as a ten-fold improvement in energy efficiency compared to today's commodity X86-based servers," by using ARM's chip architecture. (ARM is one of Calxeda's original investors.) But even if ARM is successful, don't expect it to rake in significant market share in the server space anytime soon. According to CEO East, it will likely take until 2020 for the company to take in a 20% share. What's more, Intel won't be sitting still. It's already getting its butt kicked by ARM in smartphones, and it's not about to lose out on the lucrative data center market too.

????"We take any new potential threats to our data center business seriously but feel very well positioned to continue our leadership in microservers moving forward," says Intel spokesperson Jon Carvill. "We have a strong low-power roadmap for with our Atom and Xeon product lines and 18 microserver designs that are shipping now or will be imminently."