Intel shipped its 900MHz Pentium III Xeon server CPU, the last to be based on the 0.18 micron PIII core before the Xeon family switches over to the Pentium 4 core, at least in the high-end server biz.

The 900MHz part, like its 700MHz predecessor, ships with 2MB of on-die L2 cache, and is aimed at four- and eight-way multiprocessor servers. Unlike the previous chip, there's no 1MB on-die L2 option. Both parts support a 100MHz frontside bus.

Both parts are due to be replaced by Intel's P4-based Xeon, codenamed Foster, come Q4, which in addition to the P4 core will add 512KB and 1MB of on-die L3 cache to the chip and run at speeds of 1.6GHz and up.

Foster is set to be launched in May, initially targeting the uni-processor workstation market. It will ship at 1.7GHz, rising to 2GHz in Q3. It will make its appearance at the top end of the dual-CPU server and workstation arenas in Q3. Foster won't replace PIII-based Xeons in these markets for some time, thanks to the push the release of Tualatin - the 0.13 micron version of the PIII - will give the PIII Xeon line. Tualatin will allow the PIII Xeon to dominate the low-end of Chipzilla's dual-processor server line well into 2002.

The 900MHz PIII Xeon will be supported by chipsets from ServerWorks (four-way) and Intel (eight-way). The part costs $3692 in batches of 1000. ®

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