Intel (News - Alert) is pepping to release its “fastest and highly anticipated” eight-core Nehalem-EX server processor later this month, according to reporters familiar with the matter.

 

The processor will be targeted at four-socket servers, Shannon Poulin, Xeon platform director at Intel, told reporters. Additionally, each physical core will be able to run two threads simultaneously, giving the chip 64 virtual processing cores on servers.

 

The latest processor has been described as Intel’s fastest yet.

 

Though, Poulin declined to provide the clock speed of the chips, the company reportedly said Nehalem-EX will include 24MB of cache, and 2.3 billion transistors.

 

A number of companies that rely on Intel’s processors have had great things to say about the Nehalem architecture.

 

Canton, Mass.-based NEI’s VP of engineering Jeff Hudgins recently told TMCnet he predicts Intel’s Nehalem architecture will become more popular with OEMs and other telecom professionals. Because they have areas of focus in 2010, telco pros need architecture that’s flexible and can serve multiple purposes.

 

 Additionally, in the telecom space, there is a shift toward ATCA open-standards-based technology, some of the green-field initiatives like 4GE and LTE (News - Alert) (News - Alert) rollouts, Hudgins said.

 

Another big draw to the solution is its low cost and the promise of a reduced space footprint by service providers.

 

“So there’s a long list of improvements and enhancements in the Nehelem architecture, like the quick-path interconnect, which eliminates the front-side bus, increased memory capacity, hyperthreading, multi-course processing,” Hudgins told TMCnet during the podcast.  

 

 One of the big benefits the architecture offers in the ATCA arena is the increase in memory access without an increase in power.   

 

“So you actually have up to four times the amount of memory access in a single blade moving from a 16 ‘meg’ up to a 64 ‘meg,’ which is hugely important in the ATCA arena,” Hudgins said. “And you couple that with some of the multi core technology – it’s a huge process-performance enhancement that plays out in this space.”