Intel launches new Itanium 2 processors

Intel enhanced its entire line of Intel Itanium 2 processors delivering new versions of multi, dual and low voltage processors. These new processors are the next step toward the goal of using computing platforms based on industry standards to gain more market segment share from the $20 billion proprietary RISC market segment.1

More than 70 OEMs are now shipping Itanium-based systems. The platform currently supports a choice of five leading operating systems and a vast suite of software applications, increasing the choice and flexibility of Itanium-based solutions for IT managers worldwide.

The Itanium 2 platform provides excellent computing advantages for transaction processing, data warehousing, business intelligence, enterprise resource planning (ERP) and high performance computing. This platform complements Intel Xeon processors with Intel Extended Memory 64 Technology (Intel EM64T) which are targeted at general purpose enterprise applications such as Web, workgroup, file, print, infrastructure, and application logic giving IT managers end-to-end 64-bit computing solutions.

Intel is refreshing the Itanium 2 product line with six new processors that deliver performance increases of 15 percent for database transaction processing and up to 35 percent for overall integer and floating point performance.2 The new processors include the Itanium 2 processor MP at 1.60 GHz with 9 MB level three (L3) cache at 400 MHz front side bus (FSB) for business critical applications such as database and ERP. Also available are the Itanium 2 processor MP at 1.60 GHz with 6 MB of L3 cache and the Itanium 2 processor MP at 1.50 GHz with 4 MB of L3 cache. A HP Integrity Superdome based on the new processors is the first to achieve the 100,000 sales and distribution users milestone on the SAP SD 3-tier benchmark.3

The Itanium 2 processor DP at 1.60 GHz with 3 MB L3 cache at 400 and 533 MHz FSB delivers outstanding price performance for high performance computing clusters and front-end enterprise systems. The new processor also delivers outstanding floating point performance per compute node, resulting in up to 40 percent better price per gigaflops (billion calculations per second), a measure of price-performance for compute-intensive workloads, over RISC-based systems.2

The Itanium 2 processor LV at 1.30 GHz with 3 MB of L3 cache at only 62 watts is price and power optimized for low cost systems and dense form factors such as blade servers. Intel also offers Itanium-based server platforms based on these new processors to systems builders and product integrators.

A wide range of Itanium 2 processor systems ranging from two-way to 512-way systems are available from system manufacturers worldwide including Bull, Dell, Fujitsu, Fujitsu Siemens, HP, Hitachi, IBM, Kraftway, Lenovo, NEC, Maxdata, Optimus, Samsung, SGI, and Unisys.

Intel Itanium 2 Processor Pricing

MP Products	Price in 1,000-unit quantities
Itanium 2 processor 1.60 GHz with 9 MB L3 cache	$4,226
Itanium 2 processor 1.60 GHz with 6 MB L3 cache	1,980
Itanium 2 processor 1.50 GHz with 4 MB L3 cache	910
DP Products	Price in 1,000-unit quantities
Itanium 2 processor 1.60 GHz with 3 MB L3 cache, 533 MHz FSB	$1,172
Itanium 2 processor 1.60 GHz with 3 MB L3 cache, 400 MHz FSB	851
LV Products
Low Voltage Itanium 2 processor 1.30 GHz with 3 MB L3 cache	$530