Taiwanese server maker sources have claimed Intel could be planning to bring forward the debut of 'Paxville', the chip giant's first dual-core Xeon processor.

The 90nm Paxville is currently scheduled to ship during Q1 2006, when it will be released as the Xeon 7000 series. However, sources cited by DigiTimes, claim the part could debut in the final quarter of this year.

Intel is also expected to push its Virtualisation and Advanced Management Technologies strongly in the latter part of the year, primarily through their addition to desktop Pentium processors. But Intel may want to show availability of a VT-enabled server part too.

Intel announced earlier this month that when the dual-core server chips debut they will carry model numbers. The Itanic family will be the 9000 series, while the Xeon line will be offered as the 5000 and 7000 series - what were once known as Xeon DP and Xeon MP, respectively. Chipset and CPU nomenclature will match, the better to identify them as platforms rather than discrete products.

Uni-processors systems will carry the 3000 tag, but that will only apply to the chipsets for now - the CPUs will follow the standard desktop naming scheme.

Paxville will be followed in Q3 2006 by 'Tulsa', which will take the Xeon 7000 series into the 65nm era. The 65nm 'Dempsey' - aka the Xeon 5000 series - is expected to ship Q1 2006 alongside 'Sossaman', derived from the 'Yonah' 65nm dual-core notebook chip but validated for server usage. ®

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