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Technology Stocks : Intel Corporation (INTC) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Smart Investor who wrote (76473)	3/16/1999 4:19:00 PM
From: t2	Respond to of 186894

I think we may be witnessing the beginning of a big rally in Intel. At least I hope so.

To: Smart Investor who wrote (76473)	3/16/1999 8:02:00 PM
From: greenspirit	Respond to of 186894

Smart Investor, Article...Intel steps up assault on glass house - IT awaits arrival of eight-way Intel-based servers... March 16, 1999 InfoWorld : With Intel due to introduce its 500-MHz Pentium III Xeon processor this week, server vendors are lining up to include the chip in their latest systems. But the real power boost will come from scaling the Pentium III Xeon to eight- way servers, and there is still some question as to when that crucial functionality will be available. Although details of Intel's Profusion chip set, the cornerstone of its eight- way architecture, will be divulged at the Pentium III Xeon launch event this week in New York, the actual product will not be available for at least two more months. This means customers awaiting the power of eight-way systems from Intel will likely have to wait until as late as August, when most OEMs are expected to ship their eight-way solutions. According to Jerry Sheridan, an analyst at Dataquest, in San Jose, Calif., if history holds true, customers will be willing to wait on Intel. "Customers have waited for Intel in the past," Sheridan said. " If the chip set was going to be delayed until the year 2000, people might consider other options. If the delay is short, though, companies will wait. " One company, however, has decided not to wait for Intel's delayed chip set. For companies looking to make the move to an eight-way Pentium III Xeon server now, NEC's offering might be the only option. Beginning in April, NEC Computer Systems Division (www.nec.com) will ship its Express 5800 HV 8600 server with the Pentium III Xeon processor and NEC's own Aqua II chip-set technology that provides eight-way capability. One result is certain: Eight-way Intel-based servers will bring the Intel architecture into a totally new area of the enterprise. "Where I see potential for the eight-way architecture is in running large database applications," said Bob Karl, manager of engineering services at Mary Kay Cosmetics, in Dallas. "If the cost savings are there and our database administrators are willing, I would definitely consider moving our databases off the old Alpha machines and onto a Pentium-based server." For those willing to wait for an all-Intel solution, the choices will be more varied. IBM (www.ibm.com) and Compaq Computer (www.compaq.com) both expect to ship eight-way, Profusion-based solutions by the end of the second quarter. Compaq's solution, which company officials noted is already in limited beta testing and should be available in large volumes by midyear, will be an eight-way version of its ProLiant 7000. IBM also said it will offer its Netfinity 8000 by midyear. Once the eight- way technology is available, both Compaq and IBM plan to offer an upgrade path to users with existing four-way servers. Both Hewlett-Packard (www.hp.com) and Dell Computer (www.dell.com) will also offer eight-way systems when the Profusion chip set becomes available. "Intel and the Profusion architecture have already become a de facto standard for servers," said Chris Bennet, a system planning manager at HP, in Cupertino, Calif. "The eight-way capability of the new chip set will allow users to move into application areas that were previously reserved primarily for RISC machines." For those companies satisfied with four-way architecture but still looking to take advantage of the Pentium III Xeon's increased speed and memory, there will be a wealth of options. Compaq this week is releasing the ProLiant 6400R, and will roll the Pentium III Xeon into its ProLiant 6000 and 6500 servers. IBM will immediately include the Pentium III Xeon into its Netfinity 5000 and 7000 lines. Later this month, the company will offer the four-way Netfinity 5500 M20 server, which it is positioning as an entry-level enterprise server. In addition, HP is expected to announce this week that it will support the Pentium III Xeon in its four-way NetServer LXr 8000 and LH4 servers, and Dell is said to be readying Pentium III versions of its PowerEdge 6300 and 6350 servers. Other companies expected to announce support for the Pentium III Xeon this week include Data General, Micron, and Toshiba. Pentium III Xeon servers burst onto the scene Storage Product Processor capacity Memory Price() Compaq ProLiant 6500 Four-way 500 MHz 91GB 8GB $10,511 Compaq ProLiant 7000 Four-way 500 MHz 436GB 8GB $21,193 IBM Netfinity 5500 M20 Four-way 500 MHz 109GB 4GB $8,500 Toshiba Magnia 5100 Two-way 500 MHz 216GB 2GB $9,866 () Prices are for base configurations.