14 DAY TRIAL // Intel Corporation yesterday launched the so awaited five new high-end products in the Dual-Core Intel Itanium 2 Processor 9000 series, previously codenamed "Montecito", which feature Intel's Hyper-Threading Technology (HT Technology).
Moreover, the Dual-Core Intel Itanium 2 processor 9000 series is believed to deliver performance at a system scale unmatched by competing RISC architectures, as it also has set world record results in several key server benchmarks including a score of 4230 SPEC_int_rate_base_20001.
"Intel remains focused on removing the proprietary shackles that remain in the high-end of the server market segment, and with Dual-Core Itanium 2 processors we are delivering unprecedented IT freedom with a product that excels in performance, reliability and improved energy efficiency," said Pat Gelsinger, senior vice president and general manager, Intel's Digital Enterprise Group. "The broad system and software support for Itanium 2 processors enables CIOs to move away from aging and expensive legacy systems and instead direct those funds toward standard-based computing and business innovation."
The new processors are said to double the performance and lower energy requirements, improving performance per watt by 2.5 times compared to existing, single-core versions, as the series also presents the world's most complex product design to date, according to the manufacturer, with more than 1.7 billion transistors enabling Intel designers to deliver new features to the Itanium series that determines robust virtualization capabilities, enhanced cache reliability and other mainframe-like capabilities.
Intel Virtualization Technology (Intel VT) is built into Itanium 2 processors to enhance support for OEM and industry virtual machine monitors (VMMs), and help lower the total cost of ownership by supporting the migration and consolidation of different software applications from proprietary platforms to industry standard hardware and operating systems.
"In virtually all areas, momentum for Itanium-based systems is growing. More applications were added during the first half this year than were available in 2003 and more than 70 percent of the top Global 100 companies are choosing Itanium technology. In addition, the Itanium Solutions Alliance has committed $10 billion of hardware support through 2010 to the architecture."
Supporting the Dual-Core Intel Itanium 2 processor 9000 series are two Intel server systems - the SR870BH2 and the SR870BN4, which are said to provide the optimum performance, reliability and expandability that scalable business solutions and mission-critical applications demand.
Intel dual- and single-core Itanium 2 processors were shipped yesterday with systems coming available in late August and growing throughout the year.
Prices
(Manufacturer's Details)
Dual-Core Itanium 2 processor 9050 1.6GHz 24M 533/400 MHz $3692 Dual-Core Itanium 2 processor 9040 1.6GHz 18M 533/400 MHz $1980 Dual-Core Itanium 2 processor 9030 1.6GHz 8M 533/400 MHz $1552 Dual-Core Itanium 2 processor 9020 1.42GHz 12M 533/400 MHz $910 Dual-Core Itanium 2 processor 9015 1.4GHz 12M 400 MHz $749 Itanium 2 processor (single core) 9010 1.6GHz 6M 533/400 MHz $696