Platform thoughts, the future.
HEXUS: Thinking about the overall platform now, how long will Intel continue to support the present LGA771 form factor with its quad-core Xeons?
DZ: The current SKUs' longevity is per the published roadmap, that is, at least until the end of 2007. Intel hasn't announced a change in the socket form factor for the Xeon family, so your guess is as good as mine.
HEXUS: Back to platform considerations, will Intel continue to support wattage-eating Fully-Buffered DIMMs, or are there plans to switch to regular DDR2 and, when it arrives in force, DDR3?
DZ: FB-DIMMS, as you know, are based on DDR2 technology but builds upon it by offering greater bandwidth, four-channel support, and extra reliability features. Therefore, Intel feels that it's an advantageous choice for our platforms, which, I need to point, have a long life cycle. The existing platforms, then, will continue to be available with support for FB-DIMMs for the forseeable future.
HEXUS: Eight cores per physical processor? Are we likely to see that soon? Or is that another question that goes by the roadmap?
DZ: That's a roadmap question, I'm afraid. Intel is currently evaluating all multi-core possibilities. For now, though, Intel does not have a specific date for the introduction of an eight-core processor in a single physical package.
HEXUS: Thinking of Intel's Xeon processors, how's 45nm technology coming along?
DZ: Intel will be introducing 45nm process technology at some point in the second half of 2007. Intel is looking forward to continuing its leadership in bringing new technologies to the market.
HEXUS: Intel has pushed the fact that its quad-core Xeon provide a high performance-per-watt metric, something that's on the minds of many I.T. deployment teams. Can you elaborate on this further?
DZ: Intel achieves a high processor performance-per-watt metric by harnessing the parallel processing ability of quad-core processors that ship with, in the main, 80W TDPs for quad-core SKUs. Indeed, Intel has introduced a low-voltage quad-Core Xeon processor - the L5310 - that consumes only 50W but offers significant processing power. In short, the twin benefits of massive, intelligent processing power and low-ish power requirements gives the Intel quad-core Xeons a very healthy performance-per-watt metric.
HEXUS: So, if you were to summarise the Intel quad-core Xeon processor, what are the key benefits?
DZ: The introduction of the Intel quad-core Xeons offers up to twice the processing ability of previous generations'. In server environments most applications are written to take advantage of multi-thread processing, meaning that the quad-core's architecture can be leveraged to the fullest. Allied to this - and a logical extension of having four cores in one package - the Intel quad-core Xeon processor family offers an increase in the performance-per-watt metric for a wide range of applications in the enterprise sector.
HEXUS: That about wraps it up. Thank you very much for your time, Dimitrios.
DZ: It's been a pleasure. Thank you.
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