IBM, HP jump on Paxville train

IBM and Hewlett-Packard will unveil servers based on dual-core Xeon chips on Monday, according to a source familiar with the companies' plans. The release follows a similar announcement by Dell late last month. The Intel chip involved, code-named Paxville, is a new version of a model originally designed for four-processor servers. IBM and HP both already sell servers based on dual-core Opteron processors from Intel's rival Advanced Micro Devices.

IBM will be putting the dual-core Xeon processors to work starting with its xSeries 346 and xSeries 336 servers. They are expected to ship in mid-October and mid-November respectively, with a price tag starting close to the $2,189 charged for current Opteron-based e326 server models. HP is expected to use the Paxville chips in its ProLiant machines, starting with its DL580 and DL560 models, and to be priced competitively to its DL385 machine, which costs $3,299. The companies are expected to eventually use the new dual-core Xeon chips in their blade server products.