ALL: 4-way 450 XEONS with 2M cache coming very soon! Notice the line about pent-up demand... This should add nicely to Intel's ASPs going forward!!
Intel Will Release New Four-Way
Xeon
(12/21/98, 7:50 p.m. ET)
By Marcia Savage, Computer Reseller News
Intel will make a big push into the server market when it
launches its new 450-MHz Pentium II Xeon processor
for four-way servers, which sources said is scheduled
for Jan. 5.
The new high-end Xeon chip follows the October
release of Intel's 450-MHz Xeon for dual-processor
workstations. Intel, based in Santa Clara, Calif., will
offer the new chip with either 1 megabyte or 2 MBs of
cache, sources said. Previous processors in the Xeon
line contained either 512 kilobytes or 1 MB of cache.
Tim Wenhold, president of Sintaks, a Canon USA
company based in Bridgeport, Pa., said the new
processor is needed. "I think it will rejuvenate the server
market," he said.
Customers who want systems that can take advantage
of multiprocessing capability will be very interested in
the chip, he said.
"If the Xeon is out there and can do multiple
processors, for people who are looking to do thin client
as well as heavy NT servers and even Novell this will
be something to look at," he said.
Audra Menuey, president of M.A.T. Microsystems, a
solutions provider based in Long Beach, Calif., said the
four-way Xeon processor provides a lot more flexibility
and gives clients "an upgrade path."
"By giving the capability of four CPUs, they can start
with one, and as their business grows and their needs
grow, they just add as they go along. This is huge for
the client because in our business philosophy, we don't
sell them more than they need, but we always give them
an upgrade path," she said.
"I think there's quite a bit of pent-up demand there
already," Jim Garden, analyst at Technology Business
Research in Hampton, N.H., said of the new Xeon
chip. "That large cache size is very important in server
applications."
Intel will launch the new Xeon a day after releasing two
new versions of its lower-priced Celeron processor,
sources said. The chips, targeted at the sub-$1,200 PC
market, will operate at clock speeds of 366 MHz and
400 MHz. |
