Recent research conducted by Intel in the UK has shown the new Intel® Xeon® 5300 family of quad-core processors will handle much higher volumes than its predecessors. Intel has collaborated with the finance community to understand the technical requirements of low latency platforms to deliver optimally configured architectures.

Dimitrios Ziakas Enterprise Architecture Manager Intel

Recent Finextra research revealed that 47% of financial institutions need more processing power to handle larger volumes of commoditised instruments. A further 35% said they face major risk computation issues due to processing power limitations¹.

With the introduction of the Intel® Core™ microarchitecture² and the Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® 5300 series processors³ last year, Intel raised the bar in terms of performance and energy efficiency. In 2007 Intel expects to exceed these results with the launch of a higher-end, 3.0GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor and the transition to second generation Quad-Core (see Technology Corner below).

Intel is working closely with the financial community to understand the technical requirements of low latency, high performance and high density platforms, to deliver optimally configured architectures.

With data centres already reaching capacity and computational power needs increasing, new technology must be able to support growth plans. The low voltage Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor lays a strong foundation with a power envelope of just 12.5 watts per core⁴.

While performance is important, a server must also be able to process network traffic effectively. Processing TCP/IP, for example, has remained largely unchanged since the 1980s, restricting traders’ and exchanges’ abilities to process the vast data sets needed in today’s financial markets.

Intel evaluated the entire server architecture to determine platform-level advances that would facilitate higher Gigabit Ethernet rates while addressing the growing trends seen in network environments.

The result is Intel I/O Acceleration Technology (Intel® I/OAT) – a server platform technology that moves network data more efficiently through new Intel Xeon processor-based servers for fast, scalable, and reliable networking. Intel I/OAT can significantly reduce CPU overhead, freeing resources for more critical trading tasks⁵.

Intel is now taking this new processing power to market. High volume trading, DMA and market arbitraging are areas expressing keen interest. FIX tests saw performance throughput more than double the results of just 12 months ago. Using Intel’s specialist lab facilities we are able to tune the infrastructure using all available components to optimise performance – meeting and fuelling the low latency race.

A prime example of low latency research on the latest Dual-Core Intel® Xeon® 5100 series based servers relates to the testing of the effects of Infiniband on an installation of RMDS 6. The Securities Technology Analysis Center (STAC) found that this solution reduced latency by up to 46% over previously tested solutions⁶.

Xeon X5355 – Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® Processor X5355; Xeon E5345 – Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® Processor E5345; Xeon 5160 – Dual-Core Intel® Xeon® Processor 5160; Þ Dual-Core AMD Opteron* Model 2220SE (2.80 GHz); ß Dual-Core AMD Opteron* Model 2218 (2.60 GHz); ? Dual-Core AMD Opteron* Model 285 (2.60 GHz) ? Dual-Core AMD Opteron* Model 280 (2.40 GHz); ‡ Dual-Core AMD Opteron* Model 275 (2.20 GHz). Click here for more information on performance tests.

Despite demands for higher performance and lower cost, a Gartner survey⁷ suggests that maintenance is the headache absorbing as much as 91% of IT budgets. Intel’s latest platform and technology innovations are now solving some of the problems associated with this high maintenance cost.

New Intel® vPro™ technology offers the benefits of built-in manageability, proactive security and the energy efficient dual-core performance of the Intel® Core™2 Duo processor. IT teams can remotely boot, troubleshoot, repair, and restore systems, which significantly reduces the number of desk side visits and service centre calls⁸.

For traders, Intel vPro technology systems also deliver outstanding performance and energy efficiency. A recent study shows a 25% performance advantage over a similarly configured competitive system when running Monte Carlo simulations in Microsoft Excel* 2007⁹.

i. Testing done by Principled Technologies.
ii. The end-user is also opening an attachment (XML file in word in parallel) while the Groove workspace document sync is occurring.
iii. Compared against AMD* Athlon* 64 X2 5200+ processor with NVIDIA® Quadro NVS 210S. Click here for more information on performance tests.

At the heart of Intel vPro technology lies the Intel Core 2 Duo processor. In addition to the great performance advantages, energy efficient design means a well managed Intel Core 2 Duo based desktop may cost less than $10 per year on electricity to run10.

Intel has been doubling transistor densities about every two years for more than 40 years, and our recent breakthroughs lay strong foundations for continuing this rate of innovation.

Technology Corner

45nm Breakthrough and Next Generation Multi-Core Processors

In one of the biggest advancements in fundamental transistor design, Intel is now using two radically new materials to build the insulating walls and switching gates of its 45 nanometer (nm) transistors. Hundreds of millions of microscopic transistors – or switches – will be inside the next generation Intel® Core™ 2 Duo, Intel Core 2 Quad and Xeon® families of multi-core processors.

Intel’s Penryn core is the next generation, 45nm Intel Core 2 processor family and the world’s first working 45nm CPU. It represents the next step in Intel’s rapid technology cadence with second generation quad core in production in second half of 2007. The Penryn family processors grow the performance and energy efficiency lead established by Intel Core 2 family and Intel Xeon family processors.

This transistor breakthrough allows Intel to continue delivering record-breaking PC, laptop and server processor speeds, while reducing the amount of electrical leakage from transistors that can hamper chip and PC design, size, power consumption, noise and costs. It also ensures Moore’s Law - that transistor counts double about every two years - thrives well into the next decade.

¹The Importance of Performance: Technology & Business Trends in Financial Services, Finextra Oct 2006
²Intel Architecture
³Intel Quad Core
⁴Energy–Efficient Systems Architecture
⁵Intel I/OAT
⁶Stacresearch
⁷IT spending and stuffing survey, Gartner November 2005
⁸Intel vPro
⁹Principled Technologies report
¹⁰Intel EEP whitepaper

Filed under: Issue 1 - Spring 07