Stan Beer
Monday, 25 September 2006 20:32
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 2
Clovertown and Kentsfield - remember those names. They happen to be the latest marketing catch cries for Intel's new server and desktop range of quad-core processors, to be unveiled at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco this week.
Whatever name they happen to be called, the
new quad-core chips will feature heavily in an event that is taking
place against a backdrop of the most tumultuous year in Intel's recent
history.
Massive staff cuts and restructuring as a result of poor financial
performance and a severe loss in market share to its much smaller
Silicon Valley neighbour AMD have put Intel as much in the news as its
technological achievements during 2006.
And for Intel, 2006 has indeed been a year where it has literally
delivered the goods in a product sense for all of its platforms - Xeon
5100 chips for servers and, most recently, Core 2 Duo for desktops and
notebooks.
Given the almost frenetic pace at which it has churned out its new
dual-core range this year in an effort to stem the tide of AMD market
gains, it seems almost a mark of desperation that Intel is tipped to
announce the shipping of its new quad-core range in November.
