Intel targets server share gains with hyped processor

Stan Beer
Tuesday, 27 June 2006 18:36

Your IT - Home IT

Chip making market leader Intel Corporation aims to claw back at least some of the server market share it has lost to rival AMD with the release of its dual-core Xeon Processor 5100 series, previously codenamed Woodcrest. Aimed at the high-volume server, workstation, communications, storage and embedded market segments, the processors are based on the new Intel Core Microarchitecture and the hype surrounding the release has been extensive.

{mosgoogle left}The new processor series is claimed to deliver up to 135% performance improvements and up to 40% reduction in energy consumption over previous Intel server products. Intel also claims to outshine AMD Opteron in dozens of real-world applications and industry standard benchmarks. AMD has beaten Intel to the punch in recent times, coming out with both the first dual core processors and a 64-bit platform. This has helped the Intel rival get its foot in the door at places that were once exclusive Intel shops, prompting some analysts to postulate that Intel has lost its sole supplier status in much of the vendor community forever. Intel is hoping its new range will turn that trend around.

“Simply put, the Core microarchitecture is a technical marvel that is driving a new era of power efficiency without compromising on what can only be described as eye-popping dual-core 64-bit performance,” said Pat Gelsinger, senior vice president and general manager of Intel’s Digital Enterprise Group.

Intel will ship the 5100 series at frequencies up to 3.0 gigahertz speed and faster 1333 megahertz front side bus and 4 megabytes of shared L2 cache or memory reservoir between both cores.

AMD claims to be the only company that has made a genuine dual-core processor, with two physical cores with two separate memory caches, and claims that this gives its processors performance and power consumption advantages. Meanwhile, Intel claims that its Advanced Smart Cache allows one of the two cores to use the entire memory reservoir if necessary while the other is idle, with Intel Smart Memory Access that can “hide” memory latency and bottlenecks.

Intel says it expects its new server family to be the fastest-ramping product in the company’s history, and has set pricing from US$209 to $851 in 1,000-unit quantities, depending on features.

It remains to be seen whether Intel's new Xeon Processor 5100 Series can live up to the hype that the company has generated. Many pundits believe it is too late for Intel to regain the exclusivity it once held with many tier one computer suppliers, all of whom now have relationships with AMD. While AMD does not have the resources of its much larger rival, it has its own 65 nm fab plant coming on line before the end of the year and, like Intel, the company plans to move to 45 nm production soon after. Both companies are racing to bring quad core processors to market by early 2007.