These products are designed to deliver high speed and responsiveness for general purpose servers and workstations, and also for digital media creation, high-end gaming and other market segments that require absolute performance, Intel claims.

Intel says that it began the transition to multi-core technology four years ago with Intel hyper-threading technology, followed by the introduction of dual-core PC processors in April last year.

Intel recently refreshed its entire product line by introducing over 40 new processors, including those based on the Intel Core micro-architecture, said to be a more powerful, yet energy-efficient, design.

Todays announcement ushers in another new era in computing, says Paul Otellini, Intels president and CEO. The capabilities of quad-core microprocessors will bring new possibilities for science, entertainment and business.

Intel says that it has made this next step in the computers ongoing evolution as fast and easy as possible, through continued investment in silicon process and manufacturing technology, innovative and tailored product design, and producing many software developer tools and programs.