Intel Corp is now admitting that it will delay the release of its 450MHz Xeon processors for servers until the first quarter of next year, to enable additional testing time. The higher clock speed Xeons, for use in configurations of four processors with level 2 cache sizes of 1Mb or 2Mb, were expected to hit the market late in the fourth quarter. The current 400Mhz parts were delayed after bugs were found in the 450NX chipset, but began shipping last month. The higher clock speed of the 450MHz part could reveal bugs in the error correction code that didn’t show up at 400MHz. Vendors such as Compaq Computer Corp and Data General Corp have announced their first servers based on the 400MHz parts in four processor configurations. Versions of the 450MHz part for workstations are still expected in the fourth quarter. Intel’s Profusion architecture, acquired last year along with Corollary Inc (CI No 3,120), is likely to make its first appearance at around the same time, and is intended to extend the reach of Xeon servers up to eight processors. Compaq, which helped developed the technology, is a licensee.
