Server Upheaval? Microsoft Testing ARM-based Windows Server OS

Microsoft (MSFT) reportedly has built and is testing a version of its Windows Server operating system to run on ARM-based systems, a Bloomberg report said.

The two companies have a 17-year history of collaborating for years on a variety of software and devices in mobile, consumer and embedded products, and maintain a licensing agreement dating to July, 2010 that effectively made it only a matter of time until Microsoft extended its server reach beyond Intel-(INTC) based chips.

Microsoft supports ARM technology with its Surface RT tablet, which the market has yet to embrace amid rumors the company could discontinue the line. But that isn’t likely to impact Microsoft’s thinking on an ARM-based Windows Server OS.

At this point, Microsoft, whose Windows Server is standardized on Intel x86-based processors, hasn’t decided whether to commercialize its ARM-based server OS, which is understandable given the considerable uproar it might prompt at Intel headquarters.

“Microsoft has nothing to share,” a Microsoft spokesperson said. An ARM spokesperson also had nothing to offer.

Still, should Microsoft elect to support ARM technology on servers, it likely would give the technology a significant boost in the data center, and a corresponding lift to channel partners selling into that environment.

The temptation to bring ARM’s technology into data center servers, a market thoroughly dominated by Intel-based machines, has to be overwhelming any concerns otherwise. In the long run, low-power ARM chips, which run most of the world’s smartphones, already are appearing on SoC cards for servers, rivaled by Intel’s Atom architecture.

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), the first to bring ARM-based servers to market with its Moonshot systems, added two new machines to the line in late September, one of which is its first enterprise-level 64-bit entry. HP claims its Moonshot line uses 65 percent less power, 98 percent less cabling and take up 90 percent less space than traditional x86-based servers.

The play for channel partners, according to Susan Blocher, HP Moonshot Marketing and Business Development vice president, is to view ARM-based servers in the data center based on application workload efficiency, productivity and price/performance.