Technology Point
The Xeon 5500 chip architecture was previously known as Nehalem. Intel is calling it the biggest advancement in x86/x64 processors since the Pentium Pro, which was the first Intel processor specifically designed for server workloads. Intel has now become a dominant player in server processors.
What It Is & How It Works
Not all features of the 5500 series are unique to the processor. For example, it sports on-chip memory management, a feature that rival AMD has on its processors. However, Intel is promising that the 5500 has doubled the performance of its previous high end Xeon processors in two socket server configurations. It has also tripled the memory bandwidth of previous processors.