The Itanium 9300 processor employs the second generation of Intel Virtualization Technology to improve performance and robustness, according to Kirk Skaugen, vice president Intel Architecture Group and general manager Data Center Group. Its 7500 chipset can directly assign I/O devices to virtual machines, further boosting efficiency.
Original equipment manufacturer (OEM) systems based on the Intel Itanium processor 9300 series will be binary-compatible with existing software and can provide major performance improvements without the need for additional software optimization, says Skaugen. “Poulson,†codename for the next Itanium processor, will add an advanced multi-core architecture, instruction-level and hyper-threading enhancements, new reliability features and more, he adds.
Future Intel Itanium processors in development today are being designed for socket and binary compatibility with Intel Itanium 9300 processor-based systems and software. They are designed to scale in performance and capacity through component upgrades, without software recompilation, so customers can continue to expand and adapt their mission-critical computing systems.
The Itanium 9300 processor series and the future Intel Xeon processor, codenamed “Nehalem EX,†share several platform ingredients, including the Intel QuickPath Interconnect, the Intel Scalable Memory Interconnect, the Intel 7500 Scalable Memory Buffer (to take advantage of industry standard DDR3 memory), and I/O hub (Intel 7500 chipset). An enhanced form of Demand-Based Switching (DBS) lowers power consumption when utilization is low, says Skaugen. IntelTurbo Boost Technology automatically senses and adapts to provide the right performance boost when needed, and to conserve power when it's not, he adds.
The Intel Itanium processor 9300 series ranges in price from US$946 to $3,838 in quantities of 1,000. OEM systems are expected to ship within 90 days.
