BANGALORE, INDIA: On the 50th anniversary of the first-ever microchip that virtually created the modern computer industry, Intel India came with another revolution with the global launch of the new Intel Xeon 7400-series chips, setting new standards in virtualization performance.

Aimed at the high-end multiprocessor (MP) servers, the new 45 nano metre-manufactured central processing units with six cores would significantly strengthen Intel's positions on the market of servers oriented at large enterprises, the company expects.

"This is the most proud moment for Intel India and the Indians at large, because this is the first-ever core6 x86 CPU in the world and it has been completely designed and developed in India," said R.Ravichandran, director – sales, Intel South Asia.

"The arrival of these processors can scale up to 16 processor sockets to deliver servers with up to 96 processing cores inside, offering tremendous scalability, ample computing threads, extensive memory resources and uncompromising reliability for enterprise data centres."

Intel expects the new processor series to help IT manage increasingly complex enterprise server environments, providing a great opportunity to boost the scalable performance of multi-threaded applications within a stable platform infrastructure.

The new series offers frequencies up to 2.66 GHz and power levels down to 50 watts, including the first 6-core x86 compatible 65-watt version, which translates to just under 11 watts per processor core.

While designing this series Intel's focus was on energy-efficient performance and green IT, pointed out Ravichandran. "We look at those areas and come out with solutions; green IT is not just a social or political rhetoric," he added.

The advantage of this new processor is that it is compatible with Intel's existing Xeon 7300-series platforms and the Intel 7300 chipset with memory capacity up to 256GB.

"We enable IT to do more things with the existing infrastructure they have," he said.

Previously known under code-name Dunnington, all the seven processors in the new series has a record-breaking performance, said Intel, citing the results of the performance evaluation done at TCS HPTE lab. And the design of the new series was also completed in less than two years, yet another history for Intel.

Comparing the Xeon 7400 series with the Tigerton processor, K.Ananthakrishnan, VP and CTO, Tata Consultancy Service, said, "Dunnington has over 40 per cent additional thought output compared to Tigerton."

According to Praveen Vishakantaiah, president, Intel India, "It is for the first time a microprocessor takes its first breath in India. I am incredibly proud of the team for having delivered India's first-ever microprocessor design."