Intel: we have server leaks too

Intel Roadmap Update Here's more from Intel's latest roadmap revision. At the very high end, Q4 2001 will see McKinley replace Itanium, and Foster replace the PIII Xeon as the chips of choice in four-way and eight-way systems.

Foster is the server-oriented version of the Pentium 4, featuring up to 1MB of inline L3 cache and Chipzilla's NetBurst micro-architecture It will debut at 1.6GHz, rising beyond that during Q1 and Q2 of 2002. By that time, of course, the desktop P4 should be up to 2GHz and beyond. Foster will also spearhead Intel's attempt to persuade Risc system users to move over to x86.

As per Chipzilla's latest attempt to handle the unpredictable nature of the IA-64 development process, the introduction of McKinley won't be a full-scale roll-out but will be marked by the initiation of a pilot programme.

McKinley will use Enabled and 870 chipsets in four-way and eight-way systems. For the latter, Foster will used Enabled; for the former, ServerWorks' GC-HE chipset.

Moving down to dual-processor systems, it's a similar picture. A McKinley pilot programme will kick in at the top-end in Q4 2001 to bring iA-64 to the sector. Foster debuts across the range during Q3 at 2GHz, following on from Tualatin's Q2 arrival. Foster appears to have a relatively short life in the two-way world, being replaced early 2002 by Prestonia and its InfiniBand-based, DDR-supporting Plumas chipset.

By 2002, Tualatin-based servers (chipsets: ServerWorks' LE-3 or Micron's CopperHead) will dominate the low-end, Prestonia (Plumas) will fill out the middle, right up to the very top end of the market, which is McKinley (870 and/or Enabled) territory.

Q1 2002 will see the uni-processor server/workstation market also dominated at the high-end by McKinley. McKinley's Q4 2001 debut will push the 2GHz Foster downmarket into the Intel's Volume category, where it will ultimately be replaced by Prestonia in Q1 2002, first in Foster's 860 chipset then, come Q2 2002, with its own chipset.

This chipset will ultimately become Northwood's workstation/uni-processor server basis too, replacing Brookdale. Northwood will be rolled out from Q3 2001 onward at the entry-level alongside the P4, initially at 2GHz the rising beyond that sometime in Q4. Come Q2 2002, the P4 (chipset: 850) will be phased out of this market by Northwood. ®

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