Dell is now shipping ARM-based servers to a select list of customers and partners as part of a programme aimed at building up the ARM-based ecosystem, including providing remote access to ARM servers for developers.

The programme is targeting large datacentre customers operating workloads such as cloud computing, search engines and big data applications based on Hadoop, although Dell said that technologies from this initiative may eventually filter through into mainstream server platforms. The Dell "Copper" ARM servers are based on the PowerEdge C5000 chassis already used for Dell's microserver line. Each 3U chassis can be configured with up to 12 sled modules, while each sled consists of four separate ARM-based servers, enabling up to 48 individual server nodes to fit into each enclosure

Source: V3