Intel is looking to quickly replace their older-model Xeons. Tulsa core, the latest revision for their dual-core server class beast, is going to account for up to 85% of shipments for the Xeon in the first quarter of 2007. Typically, products are phased in exactly the opposite, with small amounts of shipments at first, then gradual overtaking of the older model. That's not a bad thing in this case, since the Xeon is still sorely behind the Opteron in terms of performance, power consumption and price. Within nine months from now, Intel is expected to off the older lines completely:
Then, the proportion will be further increased and reached 95% in the second quarter, the sources noted, adding that Intel's next-generation four-way server CPU, codenamed Tigerton, is expected to be introduced in the following quarter.
With quad-core Xeons on the way, Intel has lots of hopes for the Xeon. The Opteron has really taken off, though, and unless the Xeon sees the same level of comeback that Core 2 brought for the desktop chips, it may still suffer.