Joe Toste, vice president of sales and marketing at Equus Computer Systems, Minneapolis, said the quad-core processor will pump up Intel's reputation in the high-end server world, though it may take a while before there's enough supply for channel partners.
"The real story of the quad-core is virtualization. The additional threading will make the quad a better processor for virtualization, and when they do go to market, they'll have a strong story with VMware," Toste said. "But multinationals will get it first."
Intel said the quad-core supply is plentiful for all partners. "We have a robust supply line, and we're using the same manufacturing process as dual-core. So it's easy for us to offer the quad-core in volume," said Steve Smith, corporate director of operations for Intel's Digital Enterprise Group. "We expect a rapid conversion from dual-core to quad-core, so we planned out supply that way."
Either way, channel partners can wait, according to Steve Kleynhans, an analyst at research firm Gartner. He predicts the quad-core won't become mainstream for another 18 months and expects no "appreciable impact" on OEM and system builder business next year.
"I don't foresee quads having any significant impact on PC sales until the end of 2007 at the earliest," Kleynhans said. "They will continue to be a niche product for high-end content-creation workstations and servers. Even avid gamers probably won't turn to quads in a big way until games begin to leverage the extra cores, and that is likely late in 2007."
Intel rival Advanced Micro Devices, for its part, plans to introduce quad-core processors in mid-2007 for two-way and four-way servers, whose "electrical and thermal specifications will be unchanged," the company said.
"By delivering a consistent thermal performance while adding two processing cores, plus additional planned architectural enhancements, AMD will significantly advance its performance-per-watt capabilities," said Randy Allen, corporate vice president of AMD's server and workstation business.
