Intel announces quad-core Xeon for embedded platforms

Having quad-core CPUs is impressive enough. Having them inside a mobile computer like a laptop is just plain cool. Having them in an embedded system? Now that's just crazy. However, that's exactly what Intel is promising. Supposedly, within the next year and a half, Intel will have the Xeon E5335 and E5345 quad-core CPUs ready, designed for embedded systems. These aren't designed for regular consumer use, of course, or even standard business use, but are aimed more at very specialized equipment such as medical and communications equipment. Intel has made many entries into the embedded market over the past few years, such as with their XSCALE series, that has failed to disappoint – now we'll get to see how SMP works in embedded environments.

What will be most interesting is what the TDP on these sorts of CPUs is, especially since embedded devices are known for their extremely low power demands. According to Intel, they are designed for such, and hopefully will have performance to match.