Intel to launch Foster next week
By Dan Neel
March 6, 2002 2:06 pm PT
update INTEL WILL INTRODUCE its Xeon MP (multiprocessor) server chip at the CeBit trade show next week in Hannover, Germany, according to sources familiar with the chipmaker's plans.
Set to debut at 1.4Ghz and 1.6GHz, the new Xeon MP is designed for system configurations of four or more processors.
Formerly code-named "Foster," the new Xeon MP processor will find a home in computationally intense midrange and backend servers and is based on Intel's NetBurst chip architecture, the underlying architecture of the company's Pentium 4 processors, according to Intel literature.
Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel representatives, however, declined to comment on the arrival of the Xeon MP processor as it remains a yet-to-be announced product.
Only weeks ago Intel released a 1-way and 2-way version of Xeon, formerly code-named Prestonia, for low- and mid-range servers. Prestonia was the first Intel server chip built around Pentium 4 architecture, according to Intel.
Nearly one year ago Intel retired its Pentium III-based line of Xeon server chips. At the time, the company planned to push its new Pentium 4 chips for single-processor devices such as PCs, whereas the dual-processing needs of servers would be met by Prestonia and Foster.
Experts believe that Intel saw the opportunity to make more money from a dedicated line of 2-way and 4-way server chips such as Prestonia and Foster by putting some pricing distance between the two new Xeon chips and Pentium 4 chips for the desktop and low-end workstation environments.
"What Intel is trying to do is put some distance between multiprocessor configurations, which will be Xeon-based, and Pentium 4 chips for the desktop and low-end workstation environments," said Nathan Brookwood, the principal analyst at Saratoga, Calif.-based Insight 64.
"There were a lot of people using dual-processor P-IIIs where Intel would have wanted them to use dual-processor P-III Xeons. This combination of the branding exercise and taking away the multiprocessor capabilities from the Pentium 4 line will let Intel drive the Xeon price point a little pricier than a Pentium 4," Brookwood said.
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