Intel Announces First Pentium III Processors, Building Blocks for Applied Computing Applications; Intel Platform Solutions Boost Flexibility, Time-to-Market, Lower Total Cost - Product Announcement

Edge: Work-Group Computing Report, Feb 21, 2000

Intel Corporation Tuesday announced the availability of its leading processor technology for high-performance, connected applications designed for dedicated use.

A new series of Pentium III processor-based hardware building blocks, software building blocks, and design support for applied computing products includes:

-- Intel Pentium III processor, 600 MHz, in FC-PGA package, 256K L2 cache on die, and Intel 840 chipset

-- Intel Pentium III processor-Low Power, 400 MHz, 256K L2 cache on die

-- Intel Pentium III processor-Low Power Module, 500 MHz, 256K L2 cache on die

-- Intel Pentium III processor/840 Development Kit

-- Intel Pentium III processor Low Power Development Kit

-- Flexible Platform Design Guide

-- Intel 440BX Flexible Motherboard Development Kit

-- Intel Applied Computing System Firmware Library v1.1, with Pentium III processor support

"The Pentium III processor and supporting products offer developers increased flexibility, faster time-to-market and lower total cost advantages for developing new, innovative products," said Joe Jensen, general manager, Embedded Intel Architecture Division. "The products introduced Tuesday demonstrate Intel's commitment to provide the latest processor and chipset technologies for applied computing applications such as communication infrastructure, network appliances, transaction terminals, and industrial PCs."

The products support the industry's major operating systems and real-time operating systems for applied computing and are available immediately.

High Performance Communication Platform

The Pentium III processor with the Intel 840 chipset, in dual-processor and uni-processor configurations, delivers a high performance platform for the services layer of the Intel Internet Exchange (IX) architecture. The Pentium III processor with Intel 840 chipset provides the performance and memory addressability, as well as the I/O and memory bandwidths that are ideal for high-end communication platforms.

Design for Flexibility, Faster Time to Market

Using today's new building blocks and development kits, developers can design low-profile solutions that meet 1U form factor requirements for packaging, memory, thermal dissipation, and voltage regulation.

With the Flexible Platform Design Guide, applied computing developers are able to design high-performance boards that can accept a variety of Intel Pentium III and Intel Celeron processors without modification. Developers thus gain a wide range of price and performance options along with faster time-to-market for new products. The Intel 440BX Flexible Motherboard Development Kit provides a validated platform to build flexible prototypes and reference designs.

The Intel Pentium III processor/840 Development Kit and Intel Pentium III processor Low Power Development Kit, like the Flexible Motherboard Development Kit, expedite development of high-performance, dedicated-use products that take advantage of Pentium III processors now supported for extended life cycles. The Intel Pentium III processor Low Power Development Kit specifically assists design of low-power modules based on the Pentium III processor.

The Intel Applied Computing System Firmware Library (Intel ACSF Library) simplifies the creation of initialization software for applied computing platforms based on the 32-bit Intel Architecture. The Intel ACSF Library supports Pentium II, Pentium III and Celeron processors, SDRAM, and the Intel 440BX chipset, enabling component-level initialization of the processor, memory and chipset.

New Module Solutions

Intel also announced a cooperative effort to enable Ziatech Corporation and Teknor Applicom, Inc. to introduce their own module products. Ziatech's and Teknor Applicom's products will feature the Intel Pentium III processor-Low Power and will be designed to be compatible with the current Intel Low Power Module family. The new module products can help extend the life cycle of applied computing platforms that utilize the current Intel Low Power Module form factor. Teknor Applicom and Ziatech are members of Intel's Applied Computing Platform Providers (ACPP) program.

ACPP Program Support

In addition, ACPP program members Tuesday announced support for the new Pentium III processors, modules, and development products. ACPP program participants include Advantech(a), Diversified Technologies(a), Force Computers(a), ICS Advent(a), Motorola(a), Portwell(a), Radisys(a), Teknor Applicom(a), Trenton Technologies(a), and Ziatech(a).

The Intel Developer Forum is Intel's premier technical forum comprising nearly 150 sessions and hands-on labs and more than 100 demonstrations of cutting-edge products and technologies. IDF attracts over 2,000 hardware and software developers from around the world, of whom nearly 30 percent are focused on software. Now in its third year, the semi-annual conference provides hardware OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), IHVs (independent hardware vendors), and ISVs (independent software vendors) with in-depth information on Intel technologies and initiatives. More information on the Intel Developer Forum can be found at http://developer.intel.com/design/idf. Updated information is available between Intel Developer Forums by subscribing to the Intel Developer Update Magazine at http://developer.intel.com/update/.>