Rectron has highlighted its support for the new technology upgrade introduced by Intel for its recently announced Xeon processor, which it says will have a significant impact on the IT market, particularly at software developer level.
Rectron is incorporating this new CPU chip in its high-end server and two-way (dual processor) workstation offerings, which are assembled at its Midrand (Gauteng) plant.
These servers are used primarily for tasks such as Web hosting, data caching, security and searching. For workstations, the tasks include 3D modelling and financial analysis.
"The implications for software developers are significant as it extend the Intel architecture with new levels of performance and features for servers and workstations," says Douglas Downing, a technology specialist at Rectron,
He adds that a key to the imminent success and broad based uptake of the new chip is its 64-bit extension technology and claimed 15% performance boost over previous generation chips.
"64-bit extension technology is one of a number of innovations being added to Intel Xeon server and workstation platforms this year," says Downing. "But it is the most significant because it represents a natural evolution of Intel`s existing 32-bit architecture, allowing platforms to access larger amounts of memory.
"Xeon processors will also run all the software that currently operates on 32-bit Intel processor-based machines and support 64-bit extended operating systems from Microsoft, RedHat and SuSE.
"Processors running in legacy mode remain fully compatible with today`s existing 32-bit applications and operating systems," he confirms.
From a technical perspective, the new chip uses 90- and 65-nanometer transistor technology. While most of Intel`s chips use 130-nanometer transistor circuitry, which is about 1/1000th the width of a human hair, 90 and 65-nanometer technology allows more transistors to be packed into a chip of equivalent size.
Features of the Xeon include a speed of 3.06GHz and a 533MHz front-side bus (in line with previous generation 32-bit chips), and 1MB of Level 3 cache, up from the 512KB. "Larger caches mean more memory stored on the chip, which in turn means faster access and retrieval of data stored there than information held on the hard drive or in other memory areas within the system," says Downing.
He adds that the chip is designed to provide for easy upgrades of existing Intel systems and Intel-compatible motherboards.
Specifically, the upgrades are intended to be drop-in compatible with systems using E7501 (for servers) and E7505 (for workstations) chipsets, Intel PRO Gigabit Ethernet network hardware, and Intel Server RAID Controllers.
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