We knew that Intel launches bunch of new processors for servers today for quite a while, so, the actual announcement of the highly-anticipated CPU for enterprise-class servers comes with absolutely no surprise for us. The new Intel Itanium 2 processors have mind-blowing performance to further expand Intel’s market share.

The new IA64 Itanium 2 microprocessors code-named Madison and Deerfield are made using advanced 0.13 micron fabrication process that allowed Intel to make them work at higher clock-speeds and integrate even larger L3 caches. The top-of-the-line Itanium 2 1.50GHz with 6MB L3 cache CPU able to work in MP configurations  is priced at $4226, a bit cheaper MP chip Itanium 2 1.40GHz with 4M of L3 costs $2247 in quantities starting from 1000 units, as we revealed back in late April.

The code-named Deerfield chip certified to work in DP systems and going into the market under Itanium 2 brand as well costs $1338 being clocked at 1.30GHz and equipped with 3MB of L3 cache.

Additionally, Intel introduced today its new IA32 chips for MP configurations. With Xeon MP processors at speeds up to 2.80GHz, Intel is not in an extremely competitive position against all possible rivals, including AMD Opteron processors. The Intel Xeon MP at 2.80GHz with 2MB of L3 cache, the Intel Xeon MP at 2.50GHz with 1MB of L3 cache and the Intel Xeon MP at 2.0GHz with 1MB of L3 cache are priced at $3692, $1980 and $1177 in 1000-unit quantities, respectively.

Intel now can celebrate performance leaderships in almost all market segments with industry-leading solution-providers, such as IBM, HP, Dell, NEC and SGI offering Itanium 2- and Xeon MP-based servers and workstations.