Intel Press Release

Intel Introduces The First Generation Of Intel Xeon Processors

Family Based on Intel NetBurst Microarchitecture Offers New Levels of Performance for Workstations and Servers

SANTA CLARA, Calif., May 21, 2001 - Intel Corporation today introduced its first generation of the Intel® Xeon™ processors based on the NetBurst® architecture. The processors will initially target high-performance and mid-range, dual-processor enabled workstations and ship at frequencies up to 1.7 GHz.

Intel expects Intel Xeon-based workstations to achieve performance increases between 30 and 90 percent over systems featuring the Pentium® III Xeon processor, depending on applications and configurations. The company expects dual-processor server platforms based on the Intel Xeon processor to be available in the second half of 2001.

"The new Intel Xeon processor line is the premier high-performance product for workstations, offering customers a choice of operating systems and applications as well as top performance at affordable prices," said Mike Fister, vice president and general manager of Intel's Enterprise Platforms Group.

A number of workstation manufacturers worldwide -- including Compaq, Dell, Hewlett Packard and IBM -- are expected to start shipping platforms based on the new processor this quarter -- many starting today. According to International Data Corporation, Intel-based workstations made up more than 70 percent of all workstation shipments in the fourth quarter of 2000.

The Intel NetBurst Microarchitecture and Intel 860 Chipset
Workstations based on Intel's new Xeon processors use the Intel NetBurst microarchitecture to deliver processing power for video, audio and the latest Internet technologies and 3-D graphics. The Intel Xeon processor platform is based on the high-performance Intel® 860 Chipset. This chipset features dual RDRAM* memory banks to complement the Intel Xeon's 400 MHz system bus, which provides up to 3.2 gigabytes of data per second.

Intel's Xeon processor family is specially designed to meet the scalability, availability and manageability needs of the high-performance workstation market segment. In the future, faster clock speeds and larger cache configurations will provide further headroom for computation, graphical and I/O-intensive workloads.

Pricing and Availability
The Intel Xeon processor at 1.7 GHz is priced at $406, the 1.5 GHz version at $309 and the 1.4 GHz at $268 in 1,000-unit quantities. All have 256 KB level 2 Advanced Transfer Cache.

* Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

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