by Arthur Cole
Every time a new generation of multicore technology is released, there is a mixture of anticipation and concern among enterprise professionals. The anticipation arises from the heightened capabilities and reduced operating expenses that the new chips represent, while the concern centers on the challenges of integrating them into existing software and hardware environments.

AMD’s new 6100 series is no exception. Available in configurations up to 12 cores, the chips do an amazing job of addressing many of the memory concerns that previous multicores have left unanswered, according to CTO Edge’s Mike Vizard. For one thing, they sport four memory channels, which should be enough to keep data flowing to all 12 cores at a rapid clip. It also supports DDR3 memory, an integral component of the company’s Direct Connect Architecture 2.0 platform.

The 6100, along with Intel’s new Westmere line, are poised to remake the enterprise in a number of ways, says InfoWorld’s Paul Venezia. For one thing, tools like the AES-NI instruction set in the Westmere-EP devices provide a four-fold boost in encryption processing without offloading, providing full-disk security with no performance hit. You’ll also get to toy with previously unworkable concepts like software-based RAID and increased virtualization as a way to deal with non-threaded applications.

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