Intel Kicks Off Internet Service Provider Focus, Server Initiatives At ISPCON Fall '98

Support of Linux Community Part of Expanded Intel Solutions for ISP Market Segment

SANTA CLARA, Calif., September 29, 1998 - Intel Corporation announced today at ISPCON Fall '98 new initiatives aimed at providing more solution flexibility and choice for Internet Service Providers. The company unveiled plans for closer development and optimized capability for multiple operating environments such as Linux on Intel®-based servers. The overall Linux initiative complements work Intel is already doing with Microsoft, Sun and others to expand Intel-based server and networking offerings for ISPs.

"Intel has spent a lot of time over the last year and a half with ISPs learning about their business and technology requirements," said Sean Maloney, Intel Vice President and director of the sales and marketing group. "ISPs require support for a range of operating systems - from Windows NT to UNIX and Linux. We want to ensure that all of these operating systems run optimally on the Intel Architecture."

Intel initiatives in the Linux arena include the following:

• Technical efforts including an Intel technical and engineering liaison to the Linux community; work with the I20 special interest group (SIG) and Project UDI (Uniform Driver Interface) to enable greater availability of Linux device drivers for Intel-based servers; and additional optimization efforts to ensure Linux is optimized for future Intel processors.
• Formation of an Intel Linux User Group, kicked off by a special appearance by Linus Torvalds at the Intel Oregon campus last week.
• Membership in Linux International

"The initiatives Intel is announcing today indicate the relationship between Intel and the Linux community is growing stronger," said Linus Torvalds, creator of Linux. "Our combined efforts will enable the expansion of Linux OS performance and services that will drive more mainstream acceptance of Linux."

Linux and Intel Background
The first version of the Linux operating environment was posted on the Internet by Linus Torvalds in 1991. A year later, a fully functional Linux operating system was running on Intel x86 processors. The academic community did much of the early Linux development on the Intel Architecture platform. Today, a significant percentage of ISPs are running Linux, and a majority of those customers are running Linux on Intel-based servers.

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