Intel codename Penryn will boost virtualization performances

Quoting from the Intel official announcement:

…Intel Corporation will begin producing its next-generation Penryn family of processors in the second half of this year. These new processors benefit from enhancements to the Intel Core microarchitecture and also Intel’s industry-leading 45nm Hi-k process technology with its hafnium-based high-K + metal gate transistor design, which results in higher performance and more energy-efficient processors.

Penryn speeds up virtual machine transition (entry/exit) times by an average of 25 to 75 percent. This is all done through microarchitecture improvements and requires no virtual machine software changes…

As already happened for first generation of virtualization extensions, it has to be seen when and how virtualization vendors will adapt their products to take the most out of new technology.