Dell plans to demonstrate an ARM server based on Applied Micro's 64-bit X-gene System-on-Chip (SoC) at the ARM TechCon event in Santa Clara, California, Tuesday.

Applied Micro is one of numerous chipmakers racing to bring 64-bit SoCs based on the architecture they license from the UK company ARM Holdings. The promise of using ARM processors in servers – today they are primarily used in smartphones – is that they will use significantly less energy than x86 servers with Intel chips that currently dominate the market.

Intel's answer to ARM servers is its Atom processor line. The company's 64-bit Atom-based Avoton SoC has been on the market since September.

Other contenders for ARM server market share include AMD and Calxeda. Both plan to join Applied Micro in the market with 64-bit ARM SoCs for servers in 2014.

The Dell platform on display at TechCon this week will be its Copper microserver. The platform has previously been designed around 32-bit ARM SoCs by Marvell – another contender in the space.

Dell has also designed a microserver powered by Calxeda's 32-bit part.

A select few customers have been testing the vendor's ARM servers, including well-known software companies Canonical and Cloudera. One of the customers, EP Analytics, has been testing a Copper system.

Laura Carrington, EP's co-founder and VP of research, said the company had been testing the system for high-performance computing workloads, comparing it with x86 systems' performance. “It is early days, but we are encouraged by the results so far and see significant potential for 64-bit ARM servers as an energy-efficient solution to high performance computing and big data applications,” she said.

The 64-bit X-gene-powered Copper system at TechCon will be running Fedora, the Red Had distribution of the open-source operating system.