Hewlett-Packard on Thursday upgraded its lineup of multi-processor based servers with Intel's latest 7300 series quad-core Xeon processors.

The upgrades include the rack-based ProLiant DL580 G5 and the ProLiant BL680c G5, which is HP's first four-processor blade server,  the company said.

Among the enhancements to the DL580 G5 is double the memory capacity of its predecessor, making the new product better equipped for handling virtualization. The BL680c G5 blade also has larger memory capacity for the same purpose.

Both servers also include the HP Insight Power Manager and the ProLiant Essentials Virtual Machine Management Pack. The first set of software tools enables customers to cap power at specific wattages to increase the number of servers in racks or blade chassis. The second product provides central management and control of physical server resources and virtual machines, eliminating the need for a separate management console.

HP in July announced plans to integrate data center automation technology into its management software portfolio through the $1.6 billion acquisition of Opsware. The pending transaction followed HP's buyouts of Mercury Interactive and Peregrine Systems, also vendors of infrastructure management software. The Opsware deal is expected to close by the end of the year.

Both products are currently available. Pricing for the DL580 G5 and the BL680c G5 start at $9,219 and $9,669, respectively

Intel on Wednesday took the wraps off six 7300 series, quad-core Xeon processors. The chips, bundled under the Tigerton name, are designed for multiprocessor servers, a staple of database, enterprise resource planning, and Java enterprise applications. The product line completes Intel's expandable offerings for servers that scale up to 32-way systems.