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To: Mohan Marette who wrote (46925)	2/2/1998 11:46:00 AM
From: greenspirit	Respond to of 186894

Mohan and ALL, Article... Users To Get PC Power Surge -- New Deschutes-based systems, Digital servers to debut this week... February 2, 1998 Internet Week via Individual Inc. : IT managers will get a server power boost this week with systems based on Intel's Deschutes processor and new RISC systems running Windows NT from Digital Equipment. Intel will be first out of the gate on Monday when it unveils its next- generation Deschutes chip, a 333-MHz Pentium II processor. PC vendors ready to ship Deschutes systems include AST Research Inc., Compaq, Dell Computer Corp., Hewlett-Packard and Micron Electronics Inc., with Digital and IBM to follow within weeks. On Tuesday, Digital plans to revamp its Pentium and Alpha servers. The new products are designed to entice enterprises to upgrade to Alpha from Pentium servers running Windows NT, according to company officials. Digital will unveil eight servers-five Pentium and three Alpha-ranging from a low-end workgroup server starting at $1,935 to a four- to eight-processor Pentium Pro machine starting at $29,999. Later this year, Intel will release other versions of the Deschutes processor operating at speeds up to 450 MHz. A chief advantage over previous Pentium II chips is that Deschutes will support four-way and higher multiprocessing later this year. A version of the Deschutes will also be available for mobile computers, officials at the company said. AST will offer the Bravo MS 6333 commercial desktop, available immediately, starting at $2,230. It has noise-reduction features, an easy-access chassis for ease of maintenance, a 6.4-gigabyte disk drive and 32 to 384 megabytes of RAM. In addition to its immediately available product, Compaq plans to offer a four- processor Deschutes server by June. It is designed to outperform current Pentium Pro eight-processor servers from Hewlett-Packard, Data General Corp. and other vendors. A Market Sweet Spot But Stuart Greenfield, systems analyst and controller of public accounts for the state of Texas, was not tempted. "We buy into what we call the 'sweet spot' of the market: systems that are below the fastest chips out there," Greenfield said. By staying one step behind the leading edge, he maximizes price/performance. To get its Alpha servers used as upgrades for Pentium systems running Windows NT, Digital has designed the systems to share peripherals with PCs, run the same management middleware-ServerWorks and QuickLaunch management tools-and have the same three-year service and support contracts as PC servers. Digital is even changing the color on the Alpha servers to make them look more like its PCs. Digital's Alpha face-lift should boost its popularity, which has lagged, despite good performance, said Richard Doherty, an analyst at the Envisioneering Group. "It's the best move they can do right now, given the lukewarm acceptance for Alpha," Doherty said. But user Franklyn Athias, director of new media for Comcast Corp., said the additional performance does his company no good without the necessary software. "The problem we're running into with Alpha is finding the software we need," Athias said. ______________________________________________________________________ Regards, Michael ÿ