In an astonishing development Intel has built a prototype of a processor with 80 cores that can perform a staggering trillion floating-point operations per second.
The chip was demonstrated by Intel’s CEO Paul Otellini who went on to say that the chip would be capable of exchanging data at a terabyte a second. Each core would run over 3 GHz and would probably use Intel’s recent breakthrough in developing tiny silicon-based lasers which are expected to be used in development of optical computers. This new techology is expected with the help of optical interconnects to move terabytes of data around the computer. The chip is expected to ship in about 5 years time commercially and will be 70 percent faster than current solutions.
Otellini also announced plans to introduce its Quad-Core Processors in November. The first series of Quad-Core processors would be targeted at gamers and multimedia enthusiasts and would be called Core 2 Extreme Quad-core Processors. A more mainstream Quad-Core Processor is expected early next year and will be sold under the branding of Intel Core 2 Quad Processors.
On the enterprise front Intel is rolling out similar plans. The current Xeon 5100 series would be upgraded to the faster Xeon 5300 processor. A low-power Xeon is slated for next year.
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