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Telecom Platform Deployment Featured Article
June 09, 2009
NEI Survey: Improved Power and Performance Push Software Developers to Intel Xenon Processor-Based Platforms
By Stefania Viscusi, Assignment Desk Editor
(NEBS)
Earlier this year, Intel (News - Alert) introduced 17 new enterprise-class processors that offer faster data center transactions and improved energy usage. One of these processors, the Intel Xeon Processor (News - Alert) 5500 series, has especially stood out as representative of “a new era in computing.”
One company focused on the benefits of these new processors and their impact on businesses is NEI, a provider of application platforms, appliances and support services for software developers, OEMs and service providers throughout the world.
Earlier this year, the company teamed up with Emerson Power Network to host a free TMC (News - Alert) Webinar Event, “Prepared for Nehalem?” to help service providers and OEMs learn more about the many benefits of the platforms.
Now, the company has announced the findings of its recent survey of senior software development professionals taken to gain a better understanding of their opinions, attitudes and plans regarding Intel’s Xeon Processor 5500 Series.
The survey uncovered that a majority of senior application developers plan to deploy a Nehalem-based solution within the next 24 months and that increased performance and power efficiency play a key role in their decision to develop the new platforms.
The popularity of these features is attributed to new federal requirements set fourth by The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star program that are expected to be “a key market differentiator for server manufacturers and their partner software developers.”
NEI’s survey results indicate that 41 percent have aggressive launch plans and intend to debut a product within the next 12 months. While a total of 80 percent of respondents are planning to deploy a solution based on the new Nehalem microarchitecture, 68 percent plan to do so within the next 24 months.
“The survey validates our belief that the appliance platform market is actively planning to deploy products that leverage Xeon, and we have a better understanding of how various market segments value its blend of advantages,” said Jeff Hudgins, vice president of marketing, NEI.
In addition to performance increases, the survey also uncovered the importance many developers are placing on faster memory access, especially those respondents who said they plan to launch new products in the next 12 months. This consisted of security application developers and carrier communications providers who said the improvement will help them gain design advantages to meet the needs of their upcoming applications.
When it came to concerns with the new processor, survey respondents didn’t seem too worried about memory prices, or other potential factors. One concern that did seem to strike a small cord though was Windows and Linux operating systems’ limited ability to use 32 threads.
“Dramatic performance increases are viewed by all as key to deploying Xeon 5500 Processor Series products,” said Hudgins.
“However, we did not fully anticipate security application developers and carrier communications providers with an accelerated product release schedule to view memory access as equally important. This tells us that their next-generation applications are becoming more memory intensive and that latency is the bottleneck they must overcome to remain competitive.”
Stefania Viscusi is an assignment editor for TMCnet, covering VoIP, CRM, call center and wireless technologies. To read more of Stefania’s articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi
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