Intel has launched a new line of Itanium processors designed for high-end servers.

The new 9100 series are dual-core by design and run at up to 1.66GHz, with a 667MHz Front Side Bus and consuming 104W of power.

They will run on Linux, Windows, HP-UX, HP NonStop, HP OpenVMS, z/OS and Solaris/Sparc operating systems.

Paul Cormier, executive vice president of worldwide engineering at Red Hat, said that his company is excited about the launch of Intel's latest Itanium processor-based platforms.

"We have worked closely with Intel in an effort to ensure that our upcoming Enterprise Linux 5.1 fully supports the latest RAS and virtualisation features that Intel delivers with this platform," he said.

"By working closely together, we are able to deliver the industry-leading 64-bit platform our customers are asking for, presenting them with an opportunity to significantly drive down their total cost of ownership in the data centre."

The processors have new technologies integrated to cut power use and ensure more accurate processing.

These include Demand Based Switching, where the processor checks its usage levels constantly and powers down to save energy when not being run at full speed.

Core Level Lock-Step technology has been built in to improve the data integrity and reliability of applications by eliminating undetected errors in the core.

Bill Laing, general manager of the Windows Server Division at Microsoft, said: "Microsoft continues to be a committed supporter of the Itanium architecture, and with the 9100 series our enterprise customers can run even more highly scalable and reliable databases and business applications.

"Supporting the Demand-Based Switching feature on Microsoft Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based systems will help businesses better manage power consumption and improve the efficiency of their enterprise operations."