Intel to unveil faster Xeon processors

SAN FRANCISCO: Intel Corp., the world's largest chipmaker, on Monday will

announce new, faster Xeon processors that power lower-end servers and that it is

getting back into the business of making chipsets for servers.

The company said the Xeon processors, which are its first server chips to use

what it calls Hyper-threading technology to speed performance, are aimed at

servers that have two processors each.

The Hyper-threading technology and its Netburst chip design can boost

performance by 80 per cent above currently available two-way servers that use

Intel Xeon chips, the Santa Clara, California, company said.

Compaq Computer Corp., Dell Computer Corp., Hewlett-Packard Inc.,

International Business Machines Corp., and others are expected to have server

computers running the chip available in the next few weeks to several months,

Intel said.

Also on Monday, Intel will introduce its E7500 chipset, which connects the

processor to other parts of the server. The company said this is the first time

since 2000 that it has made chipsets for servers that use one or two processors.

Typically, servers using two processors sell for $1,500 to $4,000, depending

on their configuration, and are most often used to serve up Web pages and as

e-mail servers. Hyper-threading technology essentially "tricks" the

operating system software into thinking there are actually two microprocessors

instead of one, said Lisa Hambrick, director for enterprise processor marketing.

"We've made the software think that one processor, each processor, is

like a second processor," Hambrick said. Prices for the Xeon chips range

from $251 to $615 each in lots of 1,000, depending on how fast they run, which

is a measure of overall performance of the processor.

The E7500 chipset ranges from $92 to $132 each in lots of 1,000, depending on

its configuration.