Intel plans to announce two new models of its Itanium 2 designed for use in dual-processor systems at its Intel Developer Forum conference in Taiwan next Tuesday, sources close to Intel say.
Both processors will be upgrades to the 1.4-GHz dual-processor "Madison" chip that Intel unveiled last September.
The first will be a 1.4-GHz Madison processor that will have 3MB of on-chip cache, twice the amount of the current dual-processor Madison. It will ship immediately, sources say. The second processor will be a 1.6-GHz Madison, also with 3MB of cache, that will be available in May.
By year"s end, Intel plans to ship a third dual-processor chip, code-named Fanwood, which will be based on the same design as an upcoming 1.7-GHz Madison chip with 9MB of cache. Fanwood is expected to have a clock speed of 1.6 GHz and 3MB of on-processor cache, Intel has said. A low-power version of Fanwood, with a clock speed of 1.2 GHz and 3MB of cache, is also planned for later this year.