Intel finally launches new Itanium

Low-risk launch

Kirk Skaugen, the GM of Intel's data centre group, has launched Intel's long-delayed Itanium 9300 RISC processor series  - codenamed Tukwila - which is designed to power ‘mission critical' enterprise applications, with an emphasis on reliability.

This non x86 processor is Intel's first to reach two billion transistors, but Intel has been talking it up for quite some time. Regardless of the delays, Intel has managed to grow the Itanium market over the past few years, thanks primarily to its main customer - HP. Intel claims the 9300 has more than double the performance of the previous generation.

This is not unexpected as the 9300 has four cores rather than two, producing eight threads. It is also the first Itanium to switch to Intel's QPI (QuickPath Interconnect) technology. 

"Intel is committed to delivering a new era of mission-critical computing, and we are delighted 80 percent of Global 100 companies have chosen Itanium-based servers for their most demanding workloads," said Skaugen.

Intel has also invited HP's SVP and GM for business critical systems - Martin Fink - to the launch. "Customers need a flexible technology infrastructure that can efficiently and quickly meet changing mission-critical demands," he said. "Intel's Itanium processor 9300 series, combined with HP Integrity servers, helps customers achieve new levels of scalability and resiliency with advanced virtualization capabilities to meet those needs."