Calxeda (previously known as Smooth-Stone) was a company that aimed to provide computers based on the

ARM architecture ARM (stylised in lowercase as arm, formerly an acronym for Advanced RISC Machines and originally Acorn RISC Machine) is a family of reduced instruction set computer, RISC instruction set architectures (ISAs) for central processing unit, com ...

for server computers. It operated from 2008 through 2013. Calxeda claimed reduced energy consumption as well as better cost per throughput, compared to

x86 x86 (also known as 80x86 or the 8086 family) is a family of complex instruction set computer (CISC) instruction set architectures initially developed by Intel, based on the 8086 microprocessor and its 8-bit-external-bus variant, the 8088. Th ...

-based server manufacturers. They competed in the

many-core Manycore processors are special kinds of multi-core processors designed for a high degree of Parallel processing (computing), parallel processing, containing numerous simpler, independent processor cores (from a few tens of cores to thousands or mo ...

server market against

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. Intel designs, manufactures, and sells computer compo ...

and

AMD Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California and maintains significant operations in Austin, Texas. AMD is a hardware and fabless company that de ...

, other recent ARM-based server vendors such as

Marvell Technology Group Marvell Technology, Inc. is an American company, headquartered in Santa Clara, California, which develops and produces semiconductors and related technology. Founded in 1995, the company had more than 6,500 employees as of 2024, with over 10,000 ...

(the Armada XP product), and the

multi-core processor A multi-core processor (MCP) is a microprocessor on a single integrated circuit (IC) with two or more separate central processing units (CPUs), called ''cores'' to emphasize their multiplicity (for example, ''dual-core'' or ''quad-core''). Ea ...

manufacturer Tilera.

History

In March 2011 Calxeda announced a 480-core server in development, consisting of 120 quad-core ARM

Cortex-A9 The ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore is a 32-bit multi-core processor that provides up to 4 cache-coherent cores, each implementing the ARM v7 architecture instruction set. It was introduced in 2007. Features Key features of the Cortex-A9 core are: * ou ...

CPUs. In November 2011 Calxeda announced the EnergyCore ECX-1000, featuring four

32-bit In computer architecture, 32-bit computing refers to computer systems with a processor, memory, and other major system components that operate on data in a maximum of 32- bit units. Compared to smaller bit widths, 32-bit computers can perform la ...

ARMv7 Cortex-A9 CPU cores operating at 1.1–1.4 GHz, 32 KB L1 I-cache and 32 KB L1 D-cache per core, 4 MB shared L2 cache, 1.5 W per processor, 5 W per server node including 4 GB of DDR3 DRAM, 0.5 W when idle. Each chip included five

10 Gigabit Ethernet 10 Gigabit Ethernet (abbreviated 10GE, 10GbE, or 10 GigE) is a group of computer networking technologies for transmitting Ethernet frames at a rate of 10 gigabits per second. It was first defined by the IEEE 802.3ae-2002 standard. Unlik ...

ports. Four chips are carried on each EnergyCard. The UK-headquartered company Boston Limited announced in 2011 appliances based on the Calxeda EnergyCore

system on a chip A system on a chip (SoC) is an integrated circuit that combines most or all key components of a computer or Electronics, electronic system onto a single microchip. Typically, an SoC includes a central processing unit (CPU) with computer memory, ...

products. Boston's appliances, marketed under the Viridis brand, were demonstrated in November 2012.

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company. It was founded by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939 in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California ...

used Calxeda products for a server product known as ''Moonshot'' in November 2011, named after the Redstone rocket. On December 19, 2013, Calxeda was reported to be restructuring, widely referred to as shutting down its operation due to running out of the capital venture funding, after failing to secure the deal with

. In December 2014 the

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

developed by Calxeda re-emerged with a company called Silver Lining Systems (SLS).

References

External links

Calxeda web site
(last copy archived by

WayBack Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by Internet Archive, an American nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California. Launched for public access in 2001, the service allows users to go "back in ...

)
Silver Lining Systems (SLS)
the new company that is leveraging the intellectual property developed by Calxeda {{US-manufacturing-company-stub 2008 establishments in Texas 2013 disestablishments in Texas ARM architecture Computer companies established in 2008 Computer companies established in 2013 Defunct computer companies of the United States Defunct computer hardware companies Electronics companies disestablished in 2013 Electronics companies established in 2008 Manufacturing companies based in Austin, Texas Manycore processors