IBM IntelliStation M Pro Completely Redesigned to Tackle Creative Problems Posed by Digital Design.

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 25, 1999--

New Architecture, Faster Processors, Dual Memory Channels -- Anything to Manipulate What Designers See on the Screen, Faster

IBM(a) today unveiled its new IntelliStation(a) with faster processors, a new architecture, and dual memory channels that offer more than double the bandwidth of previous models. The IntelliStation M Pro is a complete redesign of the professional workstation that solves new creative problems posed by the world of web design, animation, video editing, and three-dimensional computer-aided design.

Digital designers need to create realistic, detailed images for web-based product catalogues, streaming video for new marketing materials, and three-dimensional models in fast-paced product development cycles. They need to originate these designs as rapidly as possible, manipulate and revise them graphically, and compress them quickly for faster transmission over Internet applications. Their tools must improve productivity, because their labor costs are high. And finer images and designs contain more data, placing additional demands on their workstations.

The new IBM IntelliStation M Pro has been completely redesigned to address these problems. It features new Intel Pentium(b) III processors running at speeds up to 733 MHz (1), with a new 133 MHz front side bus. Faster processors enable the workstation to handle larger numbers of polygons, pixels, or design elements, creating richer and more detailed images. Previous workstations included a single channel for data to flow between the processor and the memory, restricting bandwidth to 800 megabytes per second. The IntelliStation M Pro features dual channels of 1.6 gigabytes each, more than doubling the bandwidthe Rambus ECC memory. This means the extremely large amounts of data required in these applications have lots of room in memory, simplifying and streamlining the ability to manipulate them in real-time. The new IntelliStation also features a high-speed ATA-66 disk drive interface -- again, double the bandwidth of previous models between disk drive and system memory -- speeding interaction with files stored on the hard drive. Because different applications require different types of graphics displays, the IntelliStation M Pro has been tested and fine-tuned for compatibility with a wide array of graphics cards, including the Intense3D Wildcat 4110 (2), the IBM Fire GL1 (3), the Matrox Millennium G400 (4) and Appian Gemini (5).

"This IntelliStation M Pro represents a revolutionary new design that offers dramatically faster performance -- a veritable number-crunching powerhouse -- with more function, more gigabytes of memory, more bandwidth, and more 2D and 3D graphics choices," says Dr. Satish Gupta, vice president, IntelliStation, IBM Personal Systems Group. "Applications like architectural design, financial services, mechanical computer-aided design, digital content creation, and software engineering demand speed, power and rock-solid compatibility with leading software applications. We've redesigned the new IntelliStation M Pro to tackle these issues, and to lead the industry in performance at a competitive price."

In addition, the upcoming new IntelliStation Z Pro, IBM's most advanced IntelliStation, was shown today at an Intel news conference in San Jose, Calif. The IntelliStation Z Pro will include Intel's new Pentium III Xeon processors and increased scaleability, meaning that it will be able to handle design problems requiring even more massive amounts of data. It is designed for workstation customers who need the highest performance input/output, graphics, and memory.

IBM Also Unveils New Commercial Desktop Models

New models of the IBM PC 300PL and PC 300GL desktop computers also include Intel's latest generation Pentium III processors at speeds of 533EB MHz, 600EB MHz, 667 MHz, and 733 MHz. The processors feature an integrated Level 2 cache with higher levels of performance than previous generations of the Pentium III. The PC 300 models include the 133 MHz front side bus, 64 or 128 megabytes of memory, AGP 2X or AGP 4X graphics, and up to 27 gigabytes of hard disk space.

IBM IntelliStations and PC 300s offer industry-leading manageability features that help customers lower their total cost of systems ownership, focus more attention on their business and applications, and spend less time running their network. These management technologies include Wake on LAN, Asset ID (6), Alert on LAN, SMART Reaction, and LANClient Control Manager 2.5.1, which help customers deploy and keep track of their PC inventories, monitor system outages and/or tampering, perform automatic data backup, and remotely manage their systems.

New Fingerprint Reader Solution

IBM also announced that it would cooperate with Digital Persona(c) in marketing a new fingerprint reader solution, compatible with IBM User Verification Manager software. A fingerprint reader solution allows computer users to log-in and log-out of applications with their fingerprint, replace passwords, verify their identity for Internet and network transactions, and obtain access to fingerprint-protected web sites. For use with IBM's IntelliStation and PC 300 lines, the solution is expected to be available by first quarter, 2000. The solution continues IBM's focus on security in personal computers. In September, IBM announced an embedded security chip on its PCs, designed to help customers protect data on their PC and in Internet transactions. IBM is also a founding partner in the Trusted Computing Platform Alliance (TCPA) announced just two weeks ago.

Options

To complement the new systems announced today, IBM offers several new options including

For all systems: IBM P76 17-inch FD Trinitron CRT Monitor, flat screen display

designed for advanced corporate users - $459

For the IntelliStation M Pro: IBM P260 21-inch FD Trinitron CRT Monitor, large flat screen display

designed for advanced corporate users - $1,149

IBM Memory: 64MB, 128MB and 256MB ECC RAMBUS RIMMs - prices starting

at $405

For the PC 300GL and PC 300PL systems: IBM G76 17-inch Monitor, ls announced today (without monitor) start as low as $2,775 for the IBM IntelliStation M Pro with Pentium IIed trademark of International Business Machines Corp.

(b) Trademark or registered trademark of Intel Co of their respective owners.

(1) MHz measures microprocessor internal clock speed, not application performance; many factors affect performance.

(2) Intense3D Wildcat is a trademark or registered trademark of Intergraph Corp.

(3) Fire GL1 is a trademark of Diamond Multimedia Systems Inc., and is used under license.

(4) Matrox Millennium G400 is a trademark or registered trademark of Matrox Graphics Inc.

(5) Appian Gemini is a trademark or registered trademark of Appian Graphics Corp.

(6) Asset ID allows a computer to be "scanned" by various radio frequency emitting devices, which must be purchased separately from independent companies.

(7) Estimated reseller prices. Resellers set their own prices, so prices may vary.