Posted on Monday, November 12 2012 @ 12:57 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
X-bit Labs
reports Intel will finalize the unification of the Itanium and Xeon platforms later this decade, by making these two server processor families socket compatible. Unifying the platforms will offer benefits for software makers and will also make it more cost-effective for the chip giant to develop new Itanium processors.
In 2010, Intel introduced its common platform strategy that allows Intel Itanium and Intel Xeon processors to utilize common platform ingredients including chipsets, interconnects and memory. This strategy gives Intel the ability to cascade the strength of Intel Itanium RAS features to benefit the Intel Xeon processor E7 family, and allows Intel Itanium to further extract the efficiencies and value of higher volume economics.
For the next-generation Intel Itanium product family, code-named “Kittson”, Intel will employ an innovative model for Intel Itanium and Intel Xeon development called “Modular Development Model”. The model will extend the common platform strategy by sharing silicon-level design elements and socket compatibility. The result for Intel is an even more sustainable path to bring future Itanium processors to market. In addition, OEMs will be able to develop one single motherboard platform for both architectures.
