There are two very big hurdles for Calxeda to overcome if it wants its ARM based servers to make any headway in the market.  The first is OS support which could be the hardest to overcome as they are dependant on programmers making Linux distributions like Ubuntu, Fedora, and openSUSE compatible with ARM chips, Microsoft has already announced that the first version of Windows Server 2012 will not support ARM.  Compatibility is something that Calxeda cannot fix on its own, however the lack of a x64 chip is something that they can work to solve and thanks to the $55M they just received they can now move forward on finishing the chip design.  That money came from an impressive list of allies including the current parent company of GLOBALFOUNDRIES, ATIC as well as ARM Holdings, Battery Ventures, Flybridge Capital Partners, and Highland Capital Partners and will be used to design the next Cortex A15 and an as of yet unnamed x64 chip.  Check out The Register for more.

"ARM chip upstart Calxeda is lining its coffers as it prepares to do battle with its 32-bit EnergyCore ECX-1000 processors, and two more cores in its roadmap, to conquer some corner of the server world.

Calxeda now has more than 100 employees, who work in its Austin, Texas headquarters as well as in development labs in Silicon Valley and throughout Asia, and it needs cash as it ramps up sales and etches future EnergyCore processors to handle heavy duty workloads and 64-bit code."

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