Technology

Itanium Processor - Tukwila

On Feb. 4, 2008, Intel released the first wave of information surrounding the upcoming release of the first Quad-Core Intel Itanium processor. The next-generation Intel Itanium processor, code-named Tukwila marks another stage of growth for industry standards-based mission-critical computing. The momentum for Itanium®-based systems has been on the rise, gaining share versus its competing platforms, IBM Power* and Sun SPARCTM architectures. With this next release, strong industry adoption rates are expected to continue.

Itanium-based systems continue to gain share in both system revenues and system volume. In the third quarter of 2007, Itanium-based system revenue leapt 15 percentage points to reach 73 percent of Sun SPARC’s worldwide share, its highest gain yet in quarter-to-quarter comparisons. Similarly, Itanium-based system revenue gained five more share points against IBM’s Power platform, achieving 59 percent of its market. (Source: IDC Q307 Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker, December 2007)

Tukwila is based on Intel's 65nm process technology and has an early clock speed of up to 2GHz at both 170W and 130W. It is  the world's first 2 billion transistor microprocessor and also includes new features such as 30MB of on-die cache and new RAS (Reliability, Availability and Serviceability) features like DDDC (Double Device Data Correction) interconnect reliability features and Soft Error Rate (SER) immunity via SER-hardened circuits.  The new processor uses an energy efficient design to deliver 9x computer BW and 6x memory bandwidth compared to the current Dual-Core Intel Itanium 9100 series processor. Another Tukwila advantage is the integration ofIntel® QuickPathTM Interconnect  technologywhich, when coupled with  Intel's new innovative Quad-Core technology and massive caches, enables more than a twice the performance gain over the current Intel Itanium 9100 series processor.  The new processors will continue to offer mainframe-class security, RAS and advanced virtualization all within the Boxboro chipset enables development synergies since it can be used in high-volume Xeon-based systems as well.

Check back for the latest information the new Quad-Core Intel Itanium processor.

Additional Information: 
  • Quad-Core processing, EPIC architecture, and Hyper-Threading Technology to support eight threads per processor
  • Intel® Virtualization Technology for enhanced virtualization
  • Intel® Cache Safe Technology
  • Increased RAS
  • More than 2 billion transistors
  • 30 MB on-die L3 cache
  • Enhanced Machine Check Architecture
  • Increased security features
  • Demand-Based Switching
  • Core Level Lock-step
  • Intel® QuickPath Interconnect
  • More than 2X Performance of Previous Generation
  • Improved Soft Error Rate (SER) Immunity
  • Voltage Frequency Management

The next-generation Itanium processor will build on its predecessor, the Intel Itanium processor 9100. Based on the 90nm process, the Dual-Core Intel Itanium processor 9100 series has an energy efficient clock speed of up to 1.66GHz and includes new notable features such as core-level lockstep (a mainframe-class RAS feature), demand-based switching for improved energy efficiency and front-side bus performance by up to 667MHz. The Intel Itanium processor 9100 series also boasts 24MB on-die cache and other features such as Enhanced Machine Check Architecture (another mainframe-class RAS feature) and increased security features.