Intel and HP used the buzz of the currently held International Supercomputer Conference (ISC) in Heidelberg for one of the first public demonstrations of the first dual-core Itanium processor, the German publication Heise Online reports.

Montecito was first shown at this year's Spring IDF back in March. The future Itanium will integrate 1.7 billion transistors and will stress Intel's intention to become the dominant processor supplier in the high-end server market. The system at ISC included four Montecito chips with eight physical cores clocked at 1.6 GHz. Sustained performance reached 45.8 GFlops and set a new record level for a 4-way system, according to Heise.

Intel plans to introduce dual-core Itaniums later this year. Sources indicated that quad-core Itanium could be expected in the 2007/2008 timeframe and at least eight cores by the end of this decade. (THG)