Intel has unveiled its Truland platform of Xeon chips designed for multi-processor servers and the accompanying E8500 chipset.

The platform is for servers containing four or more Xeons with 64-bit memory extensions. Such multi-processor servers are not yet available for combination 32/64-bit processors.

Pat Gelsinger, senior vice president and general manager of Intel's Digital Enterprise Group, told vnunet.com that the new platform brings the Xeons into the realm of business critical applications, which in turn changes how Intel does business.

"Chief information officers don't care about what you say; they care about what they've tested. These platforms don't ramp overnight. Every one of these vendors is going to have deep seeding programmes for the next quarter or two," he said.

The four-way 64-bit Xeon servers are targeted at enterprise applications such as enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management for medium-sized businesses.

Intel also touted the new platform as capable of protecting a user's investments in the future. The new E8500 chipset, for example, will also support future versions of the Xeon processor, including the multi-core models scheduled for 2006.

"Our intention is that you will be able to drop the dual cores into the same sockets of the same platform as we go into those product offerings next year," said Gelsinger. "That's why we believe customers will embrace the platform today: because it is future proof."

Currently only Solaris and Linux support the 64-bit capabilities in the Xeon processor. Versions of Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP that support 64-bit instructions will be unveiled at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference in Seattle April 25-27, according to Andy Lees, Microsoft's corporate vice president of server tools marketing and solutions.

Microsoft will also use the conference to unveil a slew of 64-bit enabled applications from partners and independent software vendors.