Intel Developer Forum, the chipmaker announced that, with development ahead of schedule, it is accelerating the availability of dual-core, hyper-threaded Intel Xeon processors and Intel Xeon processors MP.
Originally due in 2006, Intel plans to introduce the dual-core Intel Xeon processor MP, codenamed "Paxville," for servers with four or more processors later in 2005. Intel claims Paxville will provide more than 60 percent better performance over previous generations and will use the Intel E8500 chipset, which has been architected for dual-core performance and was introduced earlier this year.
For dual processor servers, Intel plans to ship a premium dual-core Intel Xeon processor, codenamed "Paxville DP" in 2005. Paxville DP will deliver up to 50 percent improved performance over previous generations, the company said, and will use the Intel E7520 chipset.
Paxville DP is targeted at early adopters and evaluators of dual-core technology and will be followed by a broader family of dual-core Intel Xeon processor-based platforms, codenamed "Bensley" for servers and "Glidewell" for workstations, in Q1 2006.
Both 64-bit Paxville and Paxville DP processors will use Intel Hyper-Threading technology, allowing a single dual-core processor to run four threads simultaneously. The platforms will also include enhanced security features such as Execute Disable Bit and improved power management with Demand Based Switching, Intel said.
Intel has 17 multi-core projects under development and expects more than 85 percent of its server volume exiting 2006 to be multi-core processors. In addition to the Intel Xeon processors due in 2005, Intel began shipping the dual-core Intel Pentium D processor for uni-processor servers in July 2005 and said it remains on track to begin shipping dual-core Intel Itanium processors by the end of the year.
In addition, Intel announced an evaluation program, which began to deliver thousands of dual-core platforms based on Intel Pentium D processors, Intel Xeon processors, Intel Xeon processors MP and Intel Itanium processors to early adopter customers and software developers through 2005 and into 2006.
