SANTA CLARA, Calif., Nov. 1, 2005 — Originally planned for early 2006, Intel Corporation’s first dual-core, hyper-threaded processors for servers with four or more processors started shipping today. The processors deliver record levels of performance2 and are optimal for multi-threaded applications such as database, supply chain management and financial services software.

‘With a current installed base of over 30 million, Intel Xeon processor-based servers are the proven platform of choice,’ said Kirk Skaugen, general manager of Intel’s Server Platforms Group. ‘Intel’s multi-core-based servers currently deliver record-breaking performance including surpassing the $1 TPM-C barrier for database application price performance on a dual processor server for the first time.3

The new processors are at the core of a record-setting four-processor server performance result2 recently published on the TPC-C benchmark*. TPC-C simulates a complete computing environment where a population of users executes transactions against a database and measures the number of complete business operations that can be performed by the server. More information can be found at http://www.tpc.org/.

The Dual-Core Intel® Xeon® processor 7000 sequence, formerly codenamed ‘Paxville MP,’ is shipping today with speeds up to 3.0 GHz and a 667 MHz dual, independent system bus. The new processors will fit into existing platforms using the Intel® E8500 chipset that was architected for dual-core and shipped earlier this year. In early 2006, Intel plans to ship new versions of the chipset and processorthat will support an 800 MHz dual, independent system bus.

The full release can be found at the Intel Press Room.