Intel Will Release New Four-Way Xeon

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December 21, 1998 (12:00 AM EST)

By Marcia Savage ,

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.