[Info-vax] OT: Intel launches Nehalem server chips

[Arne Vajhøj]

Neil Rieck wrote:
> On Apr 6, 9:37 am, JF Mezei <jfmezei.spam... at vaxination.ca> wrote:
>> Neil Rieck wrote:
>>> SANTA CLARA, CALIF. – Intel Corp. is calling its Xeon 5500 processor
>>> series, announced Monday [Mar-30], the most significant server launch
>>> since its Pentium Pro processor in well over a decade,
>> Quickpath (aka: CSI) had been announced in early 2004 as a common
>> interconnect for both the 8086 and IA64 an was to be available in 2007.
>> Until recently, the plan was to have IA64 get it first so it would have
>> a period where it was ahead of the 8086.
>>
>> Last I heard, the new IA64 systems won't come until 2010.
> 
> I heard that once a chip is developed and is being sold, Intel won't
> develop a newer better version until a specified number has been sold
> AND there seems to be a market for the "better version". So it all
> depends on consumer demand. But what happens when the so-called
> commodity product is getting the lion's share of the improvements but
> the enterprise version is not? (Hint: the differences between the two
> product lines decreases until one of the products is irrelevant.)

I guess it is a case where:
    money => priorities

If both laptop/desktop x86-64 CPU's and server x86-64 CPU's sell
around 10 B$ per year and Itanium sell around 0.5 B$ per year,
then ...

Arne