Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Backup/Recovery

c't magazine in Germany is reporting that Intel will ratchet its price screw on AMD when it releases its 600MHz Pentium III part later this month. Last week, we reported that Intel will also cut prices on its mainstream Pentium III/500 parts to compete aggressively with AMD's soon-to-be-released K7 Athlon chips. (Story: Intel to slash Pentium III 500MHz prices in reaction to AMD K7 wins) Intel had hoped to release its 600MHz Pentium III with 133MHz front side bus (FSB) in September, but problems with the i820 chipset caused that idea to burn to flames. Instead, a few weeks back, it announced it would have a .25 micron 600MHz part out in July. Intel was to have released the Pentium III/600 at $823/1000 (see desktop roadmap), but will now price it below or near AMD's $700/1000 for its Athlon K7/600 part. One source suggested $670/1000. The Intel desktop roadmap is now changed out of all recognition. A few hardware sites are reporting these prices for Intel parts: Around August 20, a 550MHz part will cost $480, a 533MHz Pentium III $370 and a 500MHz part $260. These are drastic reductions, compared to Intel's original roadmap. If the reports are true, which we believe they are, there will be a further cascading of prices throughout Intel's entire desktop range of microprocessors. So far, there are no hard and fast details of what exactly the prices will be. The moves show that Intel still feels it has sufficient profit and liquidity to put the pressure on AMD by selective price-slashing. And it will further put pressure on AMD by introducing a 500MHz Celeron two months earlier than expected, c't claims. The 500MHz Celeron was originally intended to sell for $187/1000 at release in September. These reports also suggest to The Register that Coppermine may not be quite as delayed as Intel itself has suggested... ®

Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Backup/Recovery