Intel To Take Wraps Off Of The Pentium III

As part of a "branding announcement" set for Monday, Jan. 11., Intel Corp. is expected to officially name its next-generation Pentium chip, code-named Katmai, the "Pentium III."

While the company declined to comment on the announcement, one industry source called the name "the best kept secret in Silicon Valley."

The Pentium III will begin at 450MHz and 500MHz, sources said. Intel has already stated publicly that it would release Katmai processors with those two clock speeds in this quarter.

The Pentium III will ship in early March, at which time a bevy of OEMs are expected to announce systems based on the chip. A host of system hardware and software developers are also expected to announce products optimized for Katmai New Instructions, sources said.

Announced last January, Katmai New Instructions is the code name for a set of 70 instructions intended to improve 3D graphics processing. In addition, Intel has said Katmai technology will help improve the performance of audio, video and such technologies as speech recognition. Although it is unclear at this point, Intel may also re-name the technology.

Katmai New Instructions will first appear in the Pentium III processors.

Intel (INTC) , of Santa Clara, Calif., can be reached at www.intel.com.

Source: ZDNet

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