INTEL DEVELOPER FORUM, SAN JOSE, Calif., Feb. 20, 2003 - Rapid industry innovation is speeding the rate at which new enterprise and communications infrastructure technologies become mainstream server and communications products, setting the stage for future industry growth, according to Intel Corporation executives.

Speaking to an audience of technology industry engineers, developers and designers, Intel Senior Vice President Mike Fister and Executive Vice President Sean Maloney explained how innovations such as WiFi, PCI Express™, Intel® Itanium® architecture, Hyper-Threading Technology and Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture (AdvancedTCA) are helping to quickly drive new products to market. The adoption of these technologies then sets the stage for future industry growth.

“More than anything, aligning the industry around key technologies leads to innovation on a grand scale,” said Fister. “Intel’s building block approach is driving innovation at a pace that other models can’t match, and that translates to new technologies, introduced more quickly, at lower prices. Corporations can then adopt the new technologies and use them for competitive advantage,” said Fister.



Intel Innovation For Enterprise Data Centers

Fister showcased one of Intel’s key innovations in enterprising computing with the company’s first public demonstration of PCI Express technology. The early silicon, operating at 2.5 gigabits per second (Gbps), illustrates the type of technology that will help lead the industry toward new, cost-efficient enterprise products. Intel is planning top-to-bottom support for PCI Express in its enterprise chipsets beginning in 2004, and new Intel storage and communications products incorporating PCI Express are expected at the same time. New enterprise chipsets planned for 2004 with support for PCI Express technology and DDR2 memory include a four-way Intel® Xeon™ processor MP chipset and a Xeon processor chipset for two-way servers. These products help round-out Intel’s enterprise chipset portfolio.

PCI Express solves challenging enterprise I/O bandwidth issues and lowers system design costs, as it requires fewer overall chips to implement. It also provides a unified way for enterprise interconnect technologies such as InfiniBand and Ethernet to work together. Combined, these features help lower system costs and increase reliability.

Intel’s continued innovation in manufacturing will come to the enterprise front later this year as the company moves to Xeon processors for dual-processor servers and workstations built on Intel’s 90 nanometer (nm) process technology. Intel has accelerated its Xeon processor roadmap, and new products for dual-processor server and workstations with 1MB of cache are due in the third quarter of 2003.

In 2004, Intel will offer two new additions for multi-processor servers including a Xeon processor MP with 4MB of cache and a new processor built on Intel’s 90-nm process technology. Itanium 2 processor plans include the introduction of a low-voltage version of the product (Deerfield) in the second half of this year. It features similar performance to today’s Itanium 2 processors for dual-processor high performance computing and targeted front-end applications, but at half the power. Future products include Itanium 2 processors with 9MB of L3 cache in 2004, followed by dual-core processors in 2005 (Montecito).



Reducing Costs for Communications Products

Maloney discussed Intel’s role in providing communications building blocks used throughout the Internet infrastructure. This includes communications products for homes and offices, equipment for access and edge operations of the Internet and equipment for the Internet’s optical backbone.

“Intel is a leading supplier of communications building blocks, ranging from WiFi products to network processors, used throughout the Internet infrastructure,” said Maloney. “By working with Intel and embracing modular communications platforms, the industry will be able to deliver communications products for homes and businesses in increasingly rapid fashion at lower costs.”

For homes and offices, Intel today announced three new network processors, the Intel® IXP420, IXP421 and IXP422. These network processors are optimized for applications such as WiFi, wireless fidelity technology that allows wireless Internet access. Linksys, a leader in networking for homes and small/medium businesses, today announced that it is using the IXP422 in its new generation of Linksys* Wireless Access Points. Additionally, broadband, security and voice-over-IP applications share a common architecture and development environment with the previously announced IXP425 network processor.

To further simplify design, reduce costs, provide increased performance and improve time to market for equipment makers, Intel is focused on creating modular communications platforms. Intel’s network processors and IA-based processors are designed to work within these modular communications platforms based on the AdvancedTCA specification. AdvancedTCA defines the size and shape of boards and other elements used in communications equipment and helps reduce design cycles.

For the optical backbone of the Internet, Maloney disclosed new details regarding Intel’s tunable laser technology. This technology promises to deliver significantly lower costs and increased flexibility in deploying dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) solutions. DWDM can allow service providers to significantly increase network bandwidth as needed.



About IDF

The Intel Developer Forum is the technology industry’s premier event for hardware and software developers. Held worldwide throughout the year, IDF brings together key industry players to discuss cutting-edge technology and products for PCs, servers, communications equipment, and handheld clients. For more information on IDF and Intel technology, visit http://developer.intel.com.

Intel, the world’s largest chip maker, is also a leading manufacturer of computer, networking and communications products. Additional information about Intel is available at http://www.intel.com/pressroom.