Intel surprised many experts, analysts and close observers of the industry by launching its latest line of sever chips Tuesday. 

 

The company revealed some details about the Nehalem EP processors Xeon 3500 and Xeon 5500 a few weeks ago right when Apple launched its new line of Mac Pro computers, but few were expecting the server chips to hit the market so soon. 

 

The launch of Intel’s new line of server chips is an historic event due to the fact that it’s new processors’ technical architecture as well as for their raw performance. 

 

The Nehalem EP family containing 17 new Xeon chips is now available in systems such as workstations and servers. The big jump in performance is a thing which makes many people in the industry to believe that the new technology will boost demand in the IT sector, a segment that has been ailing lately. 

 

Intel said its Xeon line can offer more than double the computing performance of the models currently on the market and at the same power consumption. The chip maker said the Nehalem line of processors is the most important type of processor it launched in 14 years.

 

At first, the processor will be available in 10 versions, ranging from dual-cores to quad-cores, from 2 GHz to 3.2 GHz in clock speed and from $188 to $1600 in tray prices. The processor will be boosted to an 8-core Nehalem-EX version later this year, the company said. 

 

"We expect this to be one of the broadest roll outs of new technologies and a new platform, and hopefully a nice kick for the economy for people who have been waiting to buy new servers," said Shannon Poulin, Xeon platform director in Intel's Server Products Group.