Pentium® II Processor Now Including ECC Capability Enables New Level of Processing Power for Entry-Level Servers

SANTA CLARA, Calif., July 14, 1997 -- Intel Corporation today announced a new version of the Pentium® II processor. This new member of the Pentium II processor family contains ECC (Error Correction Code) on the L2 cache, which enables servers and workstations to operate in business computing environments, where data integrity, transmission and reliability are critical.

The Pentium II processor products that have ECC on the L2 cache deliver Intel's highest performance for single- and dual-processor servers, making it an ideal solution for workgroup, file and print, and Internet/intranet servers for small and large businesses. Intel's unique Single Edge Contact (S.E.C.) cartridge design enables future generations of P6 technology to be easily incorporated into the Pentium II processor server platform design. The Pentium Pro processor still delivers Intel's highest performance, scalability to four processors, and headroom for OLTP and database applications.

"Providing ECC capabilities on the Pentium II processor enables high-performance and increased reliability for the demanding volume server market segment," said John Miner, vice president and general manager, Enterprise Server Group, Intel Corporation. "We continue to add features and functionality to our processors to support the requirements of our small business and enterprise-wide server customers."

The new Pentium II processors that include ECC take advantage of the improvements made on the Pentium II processor. These include:

• The innovative Dual Independent Bus architecture, first implemented in the Pentium Pro processor, which addresses the bandwidth limitations of previous-generation processor architectures;
• Intel MMX™ technology, which has been added to the Pentium II processor to enhance performance for audio, video and graphics applications as well as to speed up data encryption and compression;
• Dynamic Execution technology, which extends the raw performance of the processor by allowing more data to be processed in parallel in a given period of time;
• The S.E.C. cartridge, which is the delivery vehicle for these technologies, enabling the broad availability of Pentium II processors and providing headroom for future, higher performance processors.

The performance of Pentium II processor-based single- and dual-processor systems exceeds current server designs by as much as 29 percent on standard entry-level server workgroup benchmarks such as ServerBench.*

The Pentium II processor core, with 7.5 million transistors, is based on Intel's advanced P6 architecture and is manufactured on .35-micron process technology. The 266- and 233-MHz speeds, with 512KB L2 cache (with and without ECC) are available now. Pricing for ECC versions in 1,000 unit quantities is $805 and $666 for the 266- and 233-MHz parts, respectively. The previously announced 300-MHz processor, priced at $1,981 in 1,000 unit quantities, is now shipping.

* Source: Intel performance brief , Lit # 243385-001

* Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.