Processors Toolkit

Intel delays next Itanium server chip again

David Meyer ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 06 Feb 2009 16:43 GMT

Intel has again delayed the latest version of its Itanium server chip, code-named Tukwila, which was originally supposed to appear towards the end of last year.

The 65nm processor's release date had already been moved to the first quarter of 2009. It has now been pushed back again, this time to the middle of 2009. A spokesperson for Intel told ZDNet UK on Friday that the rescheduling was caused by its desire to have Tukwila support industry-standard, scalable, buffered DDR3 memory, which it wants enabled across Intel's whole server line-up. The previously specified memory technology for Tukwila was FB-DIMM .

Intel's spokesperson added that the company also wanted to "ensure socket compatibility between the Tukwila processor and future generations of the Intel Itanium processors currently code-named Poulson and Kittson".

Production of mainboard components, including the buffer chip, will begin in the second quarter of the year. Seed units, which customers can assess, are expected to ship in "the first part of this year", the spokesperson added.

The changes come late in the expected production process. Intel's spokesperson told ZDNet UK that "given the extended lifecycle of Kittson to the platform requested by end-users, [Intel] felt it was best to move to DDR3 memory given the system platform lifecycle will extend well into the next decade".

"DDR3 is expected to be the volume memory in this extended lifecycle," the spokesperson added.