Advanced Micro Devices Inc. is rolling out a low-power 64-bit Opteron processor that company officials said is ideal for dense platforms such as blade servers. At the Server Blade Summit 2005 in Santa Clara, Calif., on Tuesday, AMD announced the Opteron Model 248 HE, a low-power version of the current 2.2GHz Opteron 248. The current model has a power envelope of 89 watts. The HE model has a smaller envelope, at 55 watts.
Both AMD and rival Intel Corp. are pushing technology designed to ease the power consumption and heat generation of their processors. For example, AMD"s PowerNow technology can increase or reduce the amount of power to the chip depending on the demand. It throttles back the power when the demand is low, saving energy. The 248 HE, which also is targeted at workstations, is one of several HE models the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company has rolled out.