Intel on Monday officially took the wraps off the long-awaited dual-core version of its Xeon server processor.
"The focus of this year has been on the transition to dual core," said Intel vice president Stephen Smith at a press conference on Monday.
At the press event, Intel talked about two implementations of the dual-core Xeon that it's releasing. The first is intended for use in single-socket servers also known as "DP," or dual-processor, servers. Systems based on this device, which runs at a clock speed of 2.8 GHz, are available immediately from Hewlett-Packard and other vendors. The processor itself will sell for slightly more than $1,000.
The second is billed as the Xeon 7000 sequence, and is the part formerly code-named Paxville. It's intended for use in so-called multiprocessing systems, which incorporate more than one dual-core part, and thus contain four or more CPU cores. The chip, which will be available in versions running at up to 3.0 GHz, will ship sometime in the next 60 days.
At the Monday press conference, Intel also reiterated its aggressive deployment plans for dual-core technology. "Over the first half of 2006, we'll continue the deployment of dual core server processors," Smith said. "[In the] second half of 2006, we have a refresh of the platform, based on our next generation micro-architecture."
