It could be, of course, that the timing of the Nehalem EX launch had more to do with when ADM was expected to get its six-core "Instanbul" Opteron into the field. When Intel roadmaps indicated that would be at the end of the year, which was certainly the case back in February when Intel was showing off its roadmaps, it was no big deal. The current quad-core and hex-core "Dunnington" Xeon 7400s can compete, more or less, with AMD's current quad-core "Shanghai" Opterons. But with AMD saying three weeks ago that it was pulling its Istanbul six-shooter Opteron forward with shipments to OEMs for revenue happening in May and server partners expected to make announcements in June, it is possible - and maybe even likely - that Intel will try to get both the Nehalem EX and Tukwila chips into the field as soon as possible.