Lower Cost, Entry-Level Intel® Itanium® 2 Systems

News Release

New Processors Drive Lower Cost, Entry-Level
Intel® Itanium® 2-Based Systems

At the Intel Developer Forum (Taipei – Taiwan), Intel introduced two Intel® Itanium® 2 processors. Servers based on the new processors are approximately 28 percent lower in price** and up to 25 percent higher performing than previous dual-processor Itanium 2-based servers.

The new processors broaden the Itanium processor family support of lower-cost server solutions for front-end applications and complement existing Itanium 2-based systems in large scale deployments. A wide range of Itanium 2-based dual processor servers are offered by more than 50 system manufacturers worldwide. Entry level systems start at $US2,100***, while fully configured systems with the new processors will be available for approximately $US8,000.

“As Itanium 2-based servers push further into enterprise infrastructures we are able to reduce the overall system cost while increasing the performance,” said Richard Dracott, general manager of Enterprise Marketing and Planning at Intel. “End users will benefit from the flexibility and choice that Intel-based solutions bring to their organisations.”

The price/performance improvements of these new processors are the next step toward achieving Intel’s goal of delivering Itanium 2-based systems with up to twice the performance as Intel® Xeon™ processor based systems for the same system cost in 2007.

Intel has two server architectures, which makes up approximately 85 percent of the server market segment share.**** The Itanium 2 processor family is targeted at business critical
enterprise servers and technical computing clusters while the Intel Xeon processor family is broadly used for general purpose IT infrastructure.

“In the next few years, system manufacturers will be able to design an Itanium 2 processor and Intel Xeon processor-based system using the same low cost components,” Dracott said. “Every product and technology we roll out moves us one step closer to a common system with common infrastructure costs.”

Audi AG, the international high-quality car manufacturer, recently switched from RISC-based servers to HP Integrity dual processor servers running Itanium 2 processors.

“Audi is a pioneer in the innovation of exquisite automobiles that are attractive, sophisticated and technically perfect,” said Hans-Ulrik von Bülow, senior CAE systems and methods analyst, AUDI AG. “We rely on the technology we use to create designs so that when the car leaves our warehouse, we know that it will deliver on the Audi brand promise to our customers. That is why we switched from RISC-based systems to Itanium 2-based DP systems to help design car ventilation systems. We get better price/performance and increase our ability to perform a wide range of what-if scenarios to discover more innovative designs and possibilities.”

The Itanium 2 processor at 1.40 GHz with 3 MB level three (L3) cache and the Itanium 2 processor at 1.6 GHz with 3 MB L3 cache enable systems for technical computing clusters and entry-level, front-end enterprise systems. In addition, Intel offers to manufacturers a rack-optimised, dual-processor Intel server platform for both of these new Itanium 2 processors.

The Itanium 2 processor at 1.40 GHz with 3MB of cache improves the performance up to 25 percent over the Itanium 2 processor at 1.40 GHz with 1.5 MB of cache. Furthermore it delivers twice the price/performance of comparable RISC-based systems. The increased performance will enhance the speed and efficiency of technical computing applications such as computer aided engineering (CAE), which enables faster product design and more accurate simulations.

The Itanium 2 processor at 1.60 GHz with 3MB of cache delivers outstanding floating point performance per compute node, resulting in an industry-leading DP performance based on Linpack measurements (or floating point operations per second).*****

New dual processor systems are available from a variety of system manufacturers including Bull, Dell, Fujitsu Siemens, HCL, IBM, Kraftway, Lang Chao, Lenovo, Maxdata, Samsung, and Transtec AG.

The Intel Itanium 2 processor at 1.40 GHz with 3 MB of cache is available worldwide today for $US1,172 in 1,000-unit quantities. The Intel Itanium 2 processor at 1.60 GHz with 3 MB of cache is expected to be available worldwide in May 2004 for $US2,408 in 1,000-unit quantities.

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 www.intel.com/pressroom

Intel, Itanium and Intel Xeon are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries.

*Other brands may be claimed as property of others.
** Price reductions of 28 percent estimated from change in system price with two Itanium® 2 processors 1.4GHz with 3MB L3 and 4GB of memory from www.terian.com.
*** HP Integrity rx1600 1.00GHz/1.5MB bundle: Intel® Itanium® 2 Processor 1.00GHz with 1.5MB L3 cache, 512MB Base Memory (2x256MB), Core I/O, Single power supply, 1-Year Next Day Limited Warranty, www.hp.com, April 2, 2004
**** International Data Corp., (IDC), Quarterly Server Tracker, Q4, 2003.
***** Based on Intel measurements on Itanium® processor at 1.6GHz and 3MB cache.

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