Over the past few weeks, months, even years, I’ve seen and heard a lot of contradictory “facts” and rumors about Windows on ARM (WOA), Windows RT, ARM servers, and ARM application compatibility. So let’s lay all the rumors and speculation to rest, with a crash course on ARM and what it means to enterprises.
What is ARM?
ARM is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) architecture made by ARM Holdings plc that is used in almost every smartphone and tablet made today. Over the next three years, market allowing, it’s set to make an entrance into the server, notebook, and desktop computer markets.
What operating systems support ARM?
Previously, only Linux-based operating systems (such as Google’s Android) supported ARM. That changed with Microsoft’s Windows RT operating system for ARM PCs. Windows Server does not currently support ARM chips. So upcoming low-power ARM-based server products from Dell and HP will, for the time being, be Linux-only.
Windows Server 2012 R1, slated to land in the next couple months, is not expected to support ARM processors. However, with the key Windows kernel ported to run on ARM chips, Windows Server 2012 R2 is widely expected to add support for the new architecture. There’s some official guidance lending credibility to this hypothesis; ARM announced it is working with Microsoft to add support for 64-bit ARM server chips in Windows by 2014. And 2014 is about when Server 2012 R2 is expected to debut.
But what about my apps?
If you have the source, compiling simple apps to work with Windows RT should be a snap. Microsoft has ported most of its libraries (such as DirectX) to Windows RT, so there should be no real issues on that front. However, there are some changes to the low-level access that apps are granted -- which is why some developers like Mozilla are crying foul. Will your apps work? In most cases, yes; in some specialized cases, no. Experienced developers will be able to tell you the difference based on your particular code.
If you do not have the source code, a similar principle applies. Consider that the developer of the application will need to recompile it for ARM. Most major apps -- for example, the Adobe Suite or Microsoft Office Suite -- have already been recompiled and made available for Windows RT or will be soon. For non-license users, requesting an ARM executable may come with a fee attached; for license users, you should generally expect no extra cost. Beware: Some smaller app developers may be slower to make their programs available for the new architecture.
And manageability?
Windows on ARM or Linux on ARM are inherently no more or less manageable than their x86 peers. However, today most management tools for ARM tend to fall under the mobile device management (MDM) category and are built for Linux (Android) or Unix-like operating systems (iOS).
Windows RT comes with some basic management support, but there is a legitimate void in management software for Windows on ARM. Fortunately, we can expect that void to be filled shortly, though, as developers address the market's need.
Why care?
It’s tempting to overlook ARM, given the unclear information, obvious difficulties, and potentially long waits. However, you’re likely already managing ARM devices if you manage your employees’ mobile devices.
ARM has certain advantages over x86. It’s inherently more power-efficient and cheaper (because it has less transistors). It follows the new paradigm of small, efficient, and abundant cores, which goes hand-in-hand with heavy-multithreading and virtualization. And now, virtually all the power players of the operating system world -- Microsoft, RedHat, Canonical, Google, and Apple (among others) -- have committed to ARM offerings.
With AMD’s recent news that it will build 64-bit ARM Opterons, business leaders should recognize the market is changing. In the server space, ARM has no product for you today. But don’t let misinformation confuse you: The world’s top chipmakers (with one big exception) have thrown their weight behind ARM. The market is shifting. Prepare yourself for that shift by learning to effectively manage ARM-architecture mobile devices and keeping a careful eye on the product pipeline.
— Jason Mick is senior news editor at the independent tech news site DailyTech.
Funy thing: Apple has built servers for twenty-plus years now, and have yet to set the market on fire. I'm sure there are those who swear by the product and love it to pieces, but the most telling fact is that Apple does not use their own product in their own server farms. They're using Linux on x86 hardware from what I've been told, and the fact that they're unwilling to "eat their own dog food" tends to indicate their own opinion of their own product. I'm afraid I cannot see the emergence of low-power-consumption chips being the magic bullet that makes Apple matter to infrastructure vendors and consumers. Server people aren't really swayed by industrial design. "What does it cost, and what can it do?" easily trumps "Ooh, SHINY!" When Apple stops being different for the sake of being different, they may have a product that sells. Product differentiation is nice, but re-inventing the wheel doesn't work when you make it triangular just to be different.
Steve Jobs and Larry Ellison were close friends, so maybe there was a shot at an Apple-Oracle partnership -- but it's probably unlikely given that there's not much upside for Oracle.
Still, I'd like to see Apple enter the enterprise. Google has tried to do it, and it's still working on getting its foot in the door. I just find it interesting to see big companies innovate and try to enter fields that they're previously not known to perform well in.
Amazon has already entered the enterprise space and seems to be doing quite well with its cloud sevices, so it's logical to see Apple and Google try to follow suit someday....?
I agree there's no real reason why Apple would be unable to enter the enterprise market from a OS perspective.
However, I think that as your comment hints at, perhaps the best possibility would be to pair up with an established player, like Oracle, who has the presence on the ground to sell product. Of course Apple hates to pair up with anybody -- or at least it did in the past. But maybe with Tim Cook it's a possibility.
I see a joint-venture as the most likely possibility of Apple of making a splash in the enterprise market outside the realm of BYOD.
mhhfive - We're not going to really know what Apple is like post-Jobs until his hand has been off the tiller for three to five years. The new products we're seeing now -- the iPhone 5 and iPad -- is technology that Jobs presumably had a hand in making.
@mhhfive - Tim Cook made his bones at Apple as a supply chain wizard. He's the guy who set up those manufacturing pipelines that stretch all the way from China at one end to your neighborhood Apple store at the other end. He is every bit as much of a genius at that game as Steve Jobs was or Jonny Ive is at theirs.
But supply chain wizards have an Achilles' heel: They hate surprises. And innovation is a form of surprise.
I am not predicting Apple's failure. Only a fool does that. I am, however, pointing out a possible huge weakness in the company going forward.
I agree it would be hard to see Apple getting into the server market seriously at this point, but I think it's a possibility given that Apple's desktop OS is mature enough for enterprise environments.
The real problem is that Apple doesn't have an army of industry consultants that could promote Apple server hardware and software -- like IBM or HP or Oracle do. The main business model for the enterprise isn't really selling hardware, but selling consulting services. So Apple would have to somehow create "Apple geniuses" who were versed in enterprise deployments....
I'm not sure we can judge the future of apple's product line from Tim Cook's product introductions so far.. it hasn't been that long... and perhaps we should count some of the products that were introduced while Cook was working at Apple, but Jobs was still alive?
Apple has never been more than a blip on the enterprise market radar, but maybe someday they'll enter that market when the consumer market is saturated with iPads. It's already looking like iPads might become part of a BYOD trend.
Apple could pick up where Blackberry is faltering in the enterprise.... that would be a nice thing to see for AAPL.
Very true. And while it would be tempting to say the slippage is merely Forestall's fault (and assume it will get better now that he's gone), that is absolutely not the case; there have been serious issues outside iOS on the OS X front as well.
For example I have an old MacBook Pro that's been lingering around for a while. I installed some of the recent patches and it killed my wireless connection. Literally it doesn't recognize there is a wireless device anymore. Looking online there's endless people having the same problem. There are some "basic" fixes, but they did not work on my machine, and by the looks of it, they didn't work for a lot of other people either.
For all the Mac snobbery, in my experience they're decent computers and beautifully packaged. HOWEVER, "It just works" is a complete myth/lie.
OS X patch quality control has had some serious issues in recent years.
I couldn't agree more. Although, I never really saw Apple pushing hard to conquer the server world and to be honest, I don't really see it happening in the near future either. They found their niche. And as long as they can keep the steam engine rolling, they shouldn't have any problem maintaining their stance at the top of the hill. The problem is, lately, they've been doing a terrible job at ensuring quality control before pushing their software to the market. I feel like Microsoft is running the place now ;).
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