Intel has rolled out its first chip with six brains, unveiling a 'multi-core' microprocessor that boosts computing muscle while cutting back on electricity use.
The world's leading computer chip maker's new Xeon 7400 series microprocessor is tailored for businesses that want to boost server performance while conserving on space and energy.
Intel executives say the Xeon 7400 is part of an 'incremental migration' toward chips with limitless numbers of cores that seamlessly and efficiently share demanding computer processing tasks.
Intel and rival Advanced Micro Devices have two-core and four-core chips on the market.
The six-core chip delivers 50% more performance than its quad-core predecessor while using 10% less electric power, according to Intel enterprise group vice president Tom Kilroy.
Electricity and cooling expenses can account for nearly half the cost of running company computer servers.
Multi-core chips basically allow computers to divvy up tasks to work on simultaneously instead of having a single powerful processor handle a job in a linear style from start to finish.
Dell, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Unisys and Fujitsu are among the computer makers building the new Xeon 7400 chips into servers designed for business networks, according to Intel.
