Kevin - Re: " The Xeon, which you were counting on to shore up Intel's flagging margins, will be AT LEAST another two weeks late."
Late news break - the XEON for servers may ship within 8 days - at the end of this month.
Paul
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biz.yahoo.com
Thursday July 23, 1:47 pm Eastern Time
Intel Xeon chip to ship at end of July
SAN FRANCISCO, July 23 (Reuters) - Intel Corp said that it will delay shipment of its Pentium II Xeon chip for
servers running four processors until the end of July, as it repairs a second bug with a software fix in the
complex processor.
Intel had expected to ship Xeon for use in these so-called four-way systems in the middle of July, as it fixed and
tested an earlier bug, or an errata, found when the chip runs in conjunction with a chipset called the 450-NX.
The second errata was identified by Intel at the time of the Xeon launch at the end of June. Intel said it already
has a software fix, or a workaround, for this second errata.
''This adds a week to 10 days for implementing the workaround,'' said an Intel spokesman in Santa Clara,
Calif., adding that this is not the only errata in the complex chip, and that all complicated microprocessors have
errata. Other errata in the Xeon Pentium II are posted on Intel's web site.
Intel's Pentium II Xeon has already been shipping in systems in a different configuration with another chipset,
targeted to workstations and servers running just one to two processors, with the chipset called the 450-GX.
Both of these two bugs in the Xeon manifest themselves only when they are running in conjunction with the
450-NX chip set.
Earlier Thursday, Piper Jaffray analyst Ashok Kumar said in a note to clients that Intel had found another bug in
the Xeon, which he said was a more serious bug that impacts the speed path in the error correction code
(ECC).
''It is one of the numerous things in a process that ensure no errors happen,'' said Intel spokesman Tom
Waldrop. He added that the software fix does not involve any major changes in the company's manufacturing
process, which Kumar was worried about because of the possible impact on third quarter revenues.
''We will be able to ship them by the end of July,'' Intel's Walrop said. |
