SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- Intel Corporation today announced the first Intel® Xeon™ processor for servers featuring Hyper-Threading technology and the Intel® Netburst™ microarchitecture. The company also introduced the Intel® E7500 chipset. The new server platform can boost system performance for two-way systems by up to 80 percent versus existing Intel-based platforms. Available at frequencies of 2.2, 2 and 1.8 GHz, the Intel Xeon processor family will be the foundation of two-way servers for years to come. "Our continued efforts to enhance our products year after year will keep Xeon processor-based platforms at the top of the line in terms of scalability, performance, and value," said Mike Fister, senior vice president and general manager for Intel's Enterprise Platforms Group. "The Intel Xeon processor family and the E7500 chipset showcase Intel-based server technology and innovation at its best." A number of manufacturers worldwide -- including Compaq, Dell, Fujitsu-Siemens, Hewlett Packard, IBM and NEC -- are expected to ship platforms based on the new processor in the next few months, targeting the rapidly growing "front-end" and general purpose server segments. The Intel Xeon processor for dual-processing servers offers users several new system performance boosts, with the Intel Netburst microarchitecture on Intel's 0.13-micron manufacturing process, Hyper-Threading technology, a larger (512 KB) level two cache size and the E7500 server chipset. The Intel E7500 chipset supports DDR memory technology and is optimized for the Intel Xeon processor. The first in a family of Intel-based volume server chipsets, the E7500 enables twice the memory bandwidth over legacy SDRAM platforms. The new chipset will accelerate memory access to increase platform performance and deliver new levels of performance for I/O intensive server applications. Front-end or general-purpose Internet servers, featuring one or two processors, are increasingly popular for companies conducting e-Business. Reliable and affordable Intel-based servers address the infrastructure trend of "scaling out," where companies and service providers quickly deploy more servers to accommodate growth in server workloads. According to International Data Corporation, 92 percent of all deployed front-end servers, as measured by uni processor and dual processor server unit shipments, are based on Intel architecture in third quarter of 2001. About Hyper-Threading technology The Intel Xeon processor family introduces the multithreading design techniques of Hyper-Threading technology. This innovation allows an operating system to view a single physical processor as if it were two logical processors, significantly increasing server response time, transactions and workload performance. To accomplish this, processors enabled with Hyper-Threading technology manage incoming data from two different instruction threads, similar to a person listening and responding simultaneously to two phone calls. Designed to improve system performance and efficiency, Hyper-Threading technology will be featured in the upcoming Intel Xeon processor MP for multiprocessing systems due later this quarter. Initial tests have shown that Hyper-Threading technology can significantly improve the number of simultaneous Web transactions and users that servers can handle. The technology can increase the speed and quality of multitasking capabilities for server users who run unique applications simultaneously. Additional Intel Platform Products The combination of the Intel Xeon processor platform and the high-performance Intel® E7500 chipset provides an optimal balance of performance and I/O capability. This chipset complements the Intel Xeon processor's 400 MHz system bus, which provides bandwidth of up to 3.2 gigabytes of data per second. The Intel E7500 is designed from the ground up to meet the needs of dual processor servers and has been validated by customers on multiple Intel platforms. In future, faster clock speeds and larger cache configurations will provide further headroom for computation, graphical and I/O-intensive workloads. High-performance servers require high performance network connections and I/O technologies to satisfy an increasing demand for access to stored data and network services. Server platforms featuring the new Intel Xeon processor and E7500 chipset will benefit from the Intel® 82546EB Gigabit Ethernet controller, which is the world's first dual port, single-chip controller. The Intel 82546EB is optimized for high-density servers where high performance, lower power and motherboard space constraints are primary considerations. To speed up access to storage, the server platform can include an Intel® IOP321 I/O processor based on Intel® XScale™ technology to deliver sufficient bandwidth for storage solutions. Intel's Gigabit Ethernet controller and I/O processor support the PCI-X bus to provide faster and more efficient networking. The high levels of dual processing performance provided by the Intel Xeon processor based platform and the Intel E7500 chipset are optimal for the applied computing market segment. Communication solutions such as load balancing, network security, traffic management, voice over IP, and Web caching require more generous I/O throughput and memory performance. To further simplify the platform design, the new Intel® E7500 High Performance Appliance Platform provides developers a basic design for a standard printed circuit board that can be used in a variety of networking applications. The reference design can be downloaded free at http://developer.intel.com/design/info/373.htm.