Intel Unveils Dual-Core Xeon 7100 Series
Staff Reporter -- EDN, August 29, 2006
Chip giant Intel Corp. today unveiled eight new Dual-Core Intel Xeon 7100 series processors designed for multiprocessor servers in a move to gain more market share and combat its rival AMD’s growing presence in the market.
The new Intel processor goes straight for an area where AMD has enjoyed market strength -- quad-socket servers.
AMD said that its server processor Opteron's Direct Connect architecture and "near-linear scaling" offer clear advantages in the 4-way space over the new Intel chip. And, AMD is quick to point out that the new Intel processor is based on Intel's NetBurst microarchitecture -- one that is on its way out as the company moves to the energy-saving Core microarchitecture that it announced at its Spring Intel Developers Forum.
But those factors did not quiet the fanfare around the chip's release today. Dell today released two quad-socket servers that feature the new Intel processor. The PC maker said its PowerEdge6800 and PowerEdge 6850 servers can deliver performance gains of up to 123 percent and improved performance per watt of up to 129 percent. According to recent numbers from IDC, the server market is a healthy one that saw revenues grow 0.6 percent in Q2 year-over-year to $12.3 billion, marking the first time since Q3 2005 that revenues climbed. The research firm noted in its report that both Intel and AMD were doing well in the space, however, AMD’s growth was ahead of the industry’s curve.
"Today's introduction continues an historic 'summer of servers' for Intel where we have now delivered a record 23 new processors in three market segments in less than 100 days," Tom Kilroy, VP and general manager of Intel's digital enterprise group, said in today’s statement.
Previously codenamed "Tulsa," the Dual-Core Intel Xeon processor 7100 series includes lower-power, 95 watt options that reduce associated energy costs.
Intel claims its Dual-Core Intel Xeon 7100 processor series offers up to twice the performance and nearly three times better performance per watt over previous Intel Xeon MP processors, while boasting greater performance headroom than competitive offerings. The processors are also socket compatible with the currently shipping platform.
Built on Intel's 65nm manufacturing process, the 7100 series processors contain more than 1.3 billion transistors and 16MB of shared cache. Systems scaling to 32 processors will be available, the company said.
The 7100 series is compatible with the existing Intel E8501 chipset that was introduced last year and designed for dual-core processors.
Servers based on the Dual-Core Xeon 7100 series processors are expected to be available from more than 40 system manufacturers worldwide starting today.
