Intel has introduced the Itanium 9300-series processor, previously codenamed Tukwila, which the company claims delivers more than double the performance of its predecessor, boosts scalability and adds reliability features to the Itanium platform that is already running mission-critical applications for 80% of the global 100 corporations.
With Gartner predicting a 650% growth in IT data over the next five years, the two-billion transistor Itanium processor 9300-series can meet the need head on with twice as many cores as its predecessor (four versus two), eight threads per processor (through enhanced Intel Hyper-Threading Technology), more cache, up to 800% the interconnect bandwidth, up to 500% the memory bandwidth, and up to 700% the memory capacity using-industry standard DDR3 components.
Critical corporate workloads also demand high-availability features across all platform components. The Itanium processor 9300-series adds to the architecture's resiliency with new reliability, availability, and serviceability (RAS) features that extend across the processor, its Intel QuickPath Interconnect (QPI) technology, and the memory subsystem, Intel said.
The processor's machine-check architecture coordinates error handling across the hardware, firmware and operating system, and improves system availability by enabling recovery from otherwise fatal errors.
The Itanium 9300 processor employs the second generation of Intel Virtualization technology to improve performance and robustness. Its Intel 7500 chipset can directly assign I/O devices to virtual machines, further boosting efficiency.
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.
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.
An enhanced form of Demand-Based Switching (DBS) lowers power consumption when utilization is low. Intel Turbo Boost Technology automatically senses and adapts to provide the right performance boost when needed, and to conserve power when it is not. The Intel Itanium processor 9300 series ranges in price from US$946 to US$3,838 in quantities of 1,000. OEM systems are expected to ship within 90 days.