During a “microserver” briefing in San Francisco, Intel execs disclosed the company plans to launch a less than 10-watt version of its Atom processor in 2012, as well as a sub-15-watt Xeon powered by the Sandy Bridge architecture arriving later this year. Around the same time we can also look out for the Intel Micro Server Evaluation Lab, an upcoming online software evaluation lab allowing customers to test live code.

Intel will launch its Xeon Sandy Bridge server platforms (also known as the E3xxx series) in a few weeks from now.

“Some customers want the lowest-power, lowest-cost nodes, and want bazillions of them,” said Boyd Davis, Intel’s general manager of server marketing. “Others want the beefiest and everything in between.”

Using Atom processors in a server is not an original concept, but while companies such SuperMicro and SeaMicro already gained a foothold in this market, Intel is aiming for a complete takeover.  Davis was quoted to say “we’re going to win it, and we have the best technology in terms of costs,” and it does seem his company’s new initiative got off on the right foot – Facebook is endorsing it. Director of Facebook Labs Gio Coglitore said his company plans to use an undisclosed amount of Intel’s micro servers in 2011 or 2012.

Intel is beefing up its offerings while competition is intensifying by the day.  ARM’s shares jumped by 2 percent, and RBS analyst Didier Scemama recommends buying shares of the company calming it’s got some potential as it gains traction in mobile. Nevertheless, this doesn’t mean Intel was caught off guard considering the chipmaker recently announced the all new Atom Z6xx. The processor comes with lower power usage and high performance graphics support targeting Smartphones and tablets, and is designed to directly challenge ARM’s dominance of the mobile market.