Intel to Preview 2-GHz Pentium 4

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA -- The introduction of the first 2-GHz Pentium 4 processors from Intel will be the highlight of the chipmaker's Fall 2001 developer forum, set to take place here at the end of August.

On the first day of the Intel Developer Forum (IDF), the chipmaker will unveil two new Pentium 4 desktop processors running at clock speeds of 2GHz and 1.9GHz, says Anand Chandrasekher, vice president of the Intel Architecture Group.

Intel will bill the speedy new Pentium 4 desktop processors as the perfect hardware companion for the upcoming Windows XP operating system from Microsoft. Windows XP is scheduled for release October 25.

"Windows XP is optimized for the Pentium 4," Chandrasekher says.

Both Intel and Microsoft officials have been publicly optimistic that the combination of the Pentium 4 chip and Microsoft XP will stimulate ailing PC sales.

A 2-GHz Pentium 4 processor also moves Intel's Pentium III chip line one step closer to retirement.

"The desktop market by the end of this year is going to be on Pentium 4s," Chandrasekher says. "The Pentium III should be obsolete on the desktop."

Long-term contracts for Pentium III chips will be fulfilled, Chandrasekher adds.

Chandrasekher also expects Intel and fellow Arapahoe Workgroup partners Compaq, Dell, IBM, and Microsoft to use the developer forum as a backdrop for the publication of the 1.0 specification of Arapahoe, a next-generation high-speed PCI interface.

"Our goal is to be able to publish the first spec of [Arapahoe] at IDF," Chandrasekher says.

IDF attendees will also have first grab at the final 1.0 specification of Serial ATA, another high-speed I/O interface, Chandrasekher says.

USB 2.0, the hot-rod upgrade to current USB device connections, will be demonstrated at IDF transferring images from a digital camera, Chandrasekher says. USB 2.0 transfers data 10 times faster than current USB 1.1 devices.

On the closing day of the developer forum, Frank Spindler, vice president of the Intel Architecture Group and general manager of the Mobile Platforms Group, will reveal the details of what Chandrasekher calls "a future Intel processor that will not be released until 2003 but is being targeted specifically for the mobile market segment."

"[With the new chip, Intel will] do some things very differently to optimize it for mobility factors, like using communications [and] battery life, while still delivering performance and optimization for form factors. There's a fundamentally different way of looking at [a mobile chip] product, and we've done it from the ground up," Chandrasekher says.

With "Architecting the Digital Universe" the theme of Intel's Fall 2001 Developer's Forum, the chipmaker is optimistic about the future of the microprocessor industry.

"We're going to take this opportunity to paint a vision of the future," Chandrasekher says. "We're bullish. We don't think that growth slows, we think growth continues here, and we're going to articulate how the growth continues."