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In a keynote address at Intel Corp.'s annual developer forum last week in San Francisco, Patrick Gelsinger, senior vice president and general manager of the chip maker's digital enterprise group, announced that a six-core Xeon server processor will ship in September.

Code-named Dunnington, the X7460 Xeon chip is built with Intel's 45-nanometer Penryn technology.

Moving beyond quad-core processors is a major step -- and one that keeps Intel well ahead of rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc., said Dan Olds, an analyst at Gabriel Consulting Group Inc.

"This is a big deal," said Olds. "What we don't know is how much power the chips consume and how much heat they will dissipate, and those are key concerns."

AMD isn't slated to release its first six-core chip, code-named Istanbul, until the second half of 2009.