Intel To Unveil Xeon Server Chip Platform

The Xeon for servers product line will be unveiled Monday at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco. The platform will replace the Pentium III line for servers, according to Intel's road map, and will mark the entry of key technologies, including Intel's NetBurst microarchitecture and hyperthreading, onto server processors for the first time.

"It's a platform that's a leap in performance and capability," said Lisa Hambrick, director of Intel's enterprise processor marketing.

"I think definitely the market is looking for the [Xeon processor," said JoAnn Evans, vice president of Net%5CWorks, a Minneapolis-based white-box solution provider.

Evans said she believes the installed base is ripe for an upgrade cycle. "Pentium II processors are garbage computers already," she said. "It will be a great market for us to get that type of business, the way hardware sales are these days."

Intel will emphasize channel sales with its hoped-for server migration. "We are very focused on making the channel successful here," Hambrick said. "You're going to see more channel focus than you've ever seen before at [the Intel Developer Forum. We are very focused on enabling the channel, encouraging the channel and making them successful."