Intel Readies Dual-Core Xeon For Embedded Apps

BARCELONA — Intel gave the first glimpse Wednesday (Feb. 15) of a dual-core Xeon processor for embedded applications, such as servers and multicore communications platforms, at the 3GSM World Congress here.

The part is the latest version of the Core Duo dual-core processor the company introduced late last year for notebooks and, according to Doug Davis, a vice president in the Enterprise Group and general manager of Intel’s communications infrastructure business, the processor will be one of the first to be made in the 65-nm process that is ramping up.

Full details of the processor are expected to be announced in a few weeks, but Davis said it will run at 2 GHz and offer “double the performance of single-core versions of the Xeon and a four-fold improvement in performance/Watt over the single-core Xeon.”

In multicore communications platforms, it would boost system density as well as lower operational costs, said Davis. Like the Core Duo, the version for embedded applications has sophisticated power management capabilities.

The company was also demonstrating an AdvancedTCA SBC built with the high-performance dual-core processor and will be pushing the platform into mainstream communications and industrial control applications with partners such as Motorola and Hewlett-Packard.