Intel on Tuesday began making good on its pledge to revamp its processor line with devices that generate significantly less heat when it introduced the dual-core Xeon low-voltage processor, which has a total dissipated power of 31 watts.
Based on its previously disclosed Sossaman core, the Xeon LV is expected to be used in deployments requiring high density and power optimization, including blade servers, single-height chassis, SAN and NAS products, and network infrastructure systems.
The Intel LV will be used in a new blade server offering from IBM, the BladeCenter Ultra Low Power HS20, which will feature two of the new Xeon LV processors to provide a total of four processor cores in the blade.
The Sossaman core is based on Intel's Yonah mobile processor technology. Intel has also addressed the lower-power equation with the introduction of its Demsey MV processor, a 95-watt device targeted at mainstream server applications.
The new processors significantly lower Intel's power envelop from its existing Irwindale and Paxville DP processors, which have 110 watts and 135 watts power dissipation, respectively. Intel at its Developer Forum in San Francisco last week also provided details to its Woodcrest processor platform planned for introduction midyear. Intel says Woodcrest will provide about twice the performance of existing Xeon processors, with power dissipation of about 80 watts.
