Intel unveiled on Monday its new “Xeon 7400” six-core CPUs. The processors, previously codenamed “Dunnington,” have been designed with server applications and virtualization in mind.

The server-class processor, developed in Bangalore, India, is capable of handling intensive enterprise applications, featuring a very large 16 MB shared L3 Cache, 6 processor cores based on a monolithic architecture (all cores are placed on a single silicon chip, which is known in the industry as a die) and socket compatibility with the previous Xeon 7300 series, which on a Unysis 16-socket server configuration means you can have up to 96 cores running simultaneously (only for Linux though, as Windows servers can only handle as many as 64 cores). The shift to a 45nm fabrication process also means that Xeon 7400’s power consumption has been cut down by 10% compared to its predecessor.

Intel have made a point of highlighting their new processors’ virtualization capability, dubbing the technology implemented into it “Virtualization 2.0” which has been developed with software like VMware and Microsoft Hyper-V in mind. Enterprise clients have been using virtualization for testing potentially unsafe applications, protecting systems against malware and spyware, and for disaster recovery. Providing better virtualization support is in line with Intel’s pitch of the new processors are server and business hardware.

The new chip was almost exclusively developed at Intel's Bangalore design center near the city in south-eastern India, with local specialists. India is known in the west more for outsourcing, services and software development.

The new Xeon chip's development in this country goes to to show that Indians can hold their own in hardware development as well. Praveen Vishakantaiah, president of Intel India had this to say: "It's not just services and software that India is known for but this shows you also can do this kind of complex research and development and product design here in India" Known in the west more for its outsourcing and software services, this development will inform the western countries that India is no less in the hardware designing and development field either.

Intel has released on Sunday a list of the new Xeon 7400 MP series of processors, with their specifications and prices. They are as follows:

- X7460 (16MB L3 cache, 2.66GHz, 130W, 1066MHz FSB, 45nm): $2,729
- E7450 (12MB L3 cache, 2.40GHz, 90W, 1066MHz FSB, 45nm): $2,301
- E7440 (16MB L3 cache, 2.40GHz, 90W, 1066MHz FSB, 45nm): $1,980
- E7430 (12MB L3 cache, 2.13GHz, 90W, 1066MHz FSB, 45nm): $1,391
- E7420 (8MB L3 cache, 2.13GHz, 90W, 1066MHz FSB, 45nm): $1,177
- L7455 (12MB L3 cache, 2.13GHz, 65W, 1066MHz FSB, 45nm): $2,729
- L7445 (12MB L3 cache, 2.13GHz, 50W, 1066MHz FSB, 45nm): $1,980