“Intel’s new Pentium III Xeon chip is a boon to computer
companies’ efforts to make feistier workstations, but server makers
say the larger benefits of the upgrade won’t come until later.”
“The new chip, which runs at 500 MHz and soon at 550 MHz, is
faster than the Pentium II Xeon predecessor and adds 70 new
instructions…”
“One server task that benefits from the new instructions is
video streaming. Real Networks, for instance, saw a 10 percent gain
when a system was updated to support the new instructions, said
Erik Zimmerman Herz of Real Networks. At the Xeon rollout yesterday
in San Francisco, HP and Real Networks demonstrated video delivery
from a Red Hat Linux server.”
“Though the operating system had to be updated to take advantage
of the new instructions, it took Red Hat developer Doug Ledford
just three days to write the patch after Real Networks put in the
request, said Red Hat’s Howard Jacobson. The patch is now
downloadable, he added.”