Support for ARM processors now available on Windows Server

Mar 9, 2017 09:03 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft and Qualcomm announced a new partnership to bring support for Windows Server on ARM processors, in addition to AMD and Intel.

According to a press release rolled out today, Qualcomm and Microsoft have been working together on bringing Windows Server on ARM processors for a few years already, with the final goal of bringing Microsoft Azure cloud services on the 10 nanometer Qualcomm Centriq 2400 platform.

Today’s announcement is a huge blow to Intel, which has until now been leading the Windows Server push, but at the same time, it also represents the continuation of Microsoft’s partnership with Qualcomm, as the two are also working on bringing the full version of Windows 10 on ARM chips.

“QDT is accelerating innovation in data centers by delivering the world's first 10nm server platform,” said Ram Peddibhotla, vice president, product management, Qualcomm Datacenter Technologies, Inc.

“Our collaboration with Microsoft and contribution to the OCP community enables innovations such as Qualcomm Centriq 2400 to be designed in and deployed into the data centers rapidly. In collaborating with Microsoft and other industry leading partners, we are democratizing system design and enabling a broad-based ARM server ecosystem.”

Microsoft and Qualcomm developed support for ARM processors in Windows Server using the Project Olympus design, which is the software giant’s hyperscale cloud hardware design that was presented last year.

Microsoft and Qualcomm partnership

The collaboration between Microsoft and Qualcomm is advancing at a very fast pace, and the focus is entirely on expanding the capabilities of ARM processors.

The two companies announced in late 2016 that ARM chips would be used to power full Windows 10 devices in a move that opens the door to new smartphones running the operating system with support for Win32 software.

Microsoft has also demoed a Windows 10 device powered by a Snapdragon 820 chip and running the full version of Photoshop, highlighting the PC capabilities of this emulation software that represents a more affordable and power efficient alternative to Intel and AMD chips.