Xeons with 64-bit extensions in two months

Intel has announced that Xeon chips with 64-bit extensions could be shipping within two months.

The company told delegates at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco that Itanium 2 will offer up to twice the performance of Xeon chips by 2007, while offering "platform cost parity".

Xeon processors will also double in performance between now and 2007, according to Mike Fister, senior vice president at Intel's Enterprise Platforms Group.

Fister said that the Xeons with 64-bit extensions would be released to market next month. Codenamed Nocona, the new chip will be clocked at 3.6GHz or higher.

"There are more enhancements which we have not told you about yet," he informed delegates. "The Nocona chip [with combined 32/64 bit processing] will be out soon and it's an Xeon on steroids!"

Intel rolled out the big manufacturers to show their support for its server products, particularly the new 32/64-bit combination chips.

"The announcement of 64-bit extensions is really exciting," said Kevin Kettler, chief technology officer at Dell. "Expect products for server and workstation models soon."

Hewlett Packard and IBM also announced their support.

Intel plans to ship Itanium 2 processors at 1.4GHz and 1.6GHz, each with 3MB of cache, followed by the dual-chipset Millington in 2005 and the previously revealed dual-core Montecito line, also in 2005.

The chip maker's next-generation multi-core Itanium 2, code-named Dimona, would build on this legacy, but Fister did not outline its route to market.

The multi-core processors will be used primarily for dual processor servers, Intel said.

For the first time, Intel published sales figures for the Itanium processor family, claiming over 100,000 systems in operation.