Intel is working on a new version of its 32-bit Xeon server
processor, codenamed Potomac, which should hit the market in late
2004.
The Xeon processors usually have similar speeds to Intel's Pentium
4 desktop chips but include some higher-end features such as larger
caches that make them more suitable for use in servers.
Intel also offers the 64-bit Itanium processor to server
manufacturers, although the 32-bit Xeon processor is still the most
popular product.
Analysts were reluctant to speculate on what features Potomac may
have but said Intel could prepare a surprise or two by 2004.
Mercury Research principal analyst Dean McCarron said Intel was
expected to increase the cache sizes on its Xeon chip and push up
the chip's speed.
In 2004, however, Intel would be able to take advantage of a new
.09-micron manufacturing process, which helps shrink the size of
the chip's circuitry and which could open the door for dual-core
Xeon chips.
A dual-core chip has two physical processor cores on the same piece
of silicon, which makes one chip work almost as effectively as two.
Intel could also make Potomac its first Xeon chip to support both
32-bit and 64-bit instructions for its x86 architecture. Rival
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), will release its Opteron processor
this year to give customers both a 32-bit and 64-bit option for
lower-end servers
Intel has been rumoured to be working on a similar chip to Opteron,
but a number of industry sources speculated that Intel dropped this
project as a result of Microsoft's support for AMD's 64-bit
processor design. Microsoft was reluctant to support two of the
so-called x84-64 architectures and sided with AMD instead of Intel,
the sources said.