Intel Xeon bug no big deal, analyst says
Tom Diederich (ARN) 26 June, 1998 13:52
Intel, which is gearing up to launch its highly touted Xeon processor line next week, uncovered a bug in a Xeon chip set last month. However, it already has a fix for the problem, according to one San Francisco analyst.
Dan Niles, an analyst at BancAmerica Robertson Stephens, said the glitch was found in the 450NX chip set, which powers Xeon servers.
"It seems that the bug, which causes the servers to freeze, is associated with use in multiprocessing systems," he said. "The problem is most prevalent in servers that use four processors," he added.
"It's not a big deal. It's not like there's a Pentium flaw or anything where you have actual computational issues. They're going to launch it on ... June 29th with a fix, and you should see workstations out there using the chip set in about a month."
Individual chips will sell for around $US1000 each, with workstations starting at around $US5000, he added. Servers are expected to hit the market sometime later.
A spokeswoman said Intel doesn't comment on unreleased products, but she did confirm that the scheduled Xeon debut was on track.