NEW DELHI, May 7: Intel on Wednesday announced the launch of Pentium II processors that combine the power of a Pentium Pro chip with the capabilities of multimedia extension (MMX) technology.

The processors, a member of the Pentium P6 family, will be available at speeds of 300mhz, 266mhz and 233mhz. They will be commercially available within a few weeks.

Addressing a press conference here to announce the launch of the processor, Intel south Asia director Atul Vijaykar said the new processors entail three key elements of microprocessor performance -- floating point, multimedia and integer. ``The Pentium II processors will deliver superior performance on all three parameters''.

The 266 MHz and 233 MHz Pentium II processors will be available on desktop systems of more than a dozen computer manufacturers across Asia Pacific. The 300 MHz processor will be available on workstations in third quarter of the year. A Pentium II processor for notebooks is expected to be launched within six months.

In India, HCL-HP, HP, Unicorp, Wipro-Acer, Zenith Computers, Nicom, Computervision, Digital, Digiland and Dell are planning to lauch PCs with Pentium II processors from next month onwards.

The desktops are expected to be priced upwards of Rs 1 lakh for an entry level model and the most advanced machine could cost up to Rs 5 lakh. The servers would be priced upwards of Rs 1.5 lakh.

With the launch of this processor, Intel has four Pentium chips targeted at different segments of the market. The Pentium processor is targeted at the entry level users, Pentium with MMX technology for home and education users and small business. while the Pentium Pro is positioned for large multipurpose computing requirements. The Pentium II is positioned as highest performance chips.

Vijaykar added that Pentium II processors combine the best of four technologies. It is the best solution for performance, has built-in manageability and thereby reduced total cost of ownership, and is shaping an era of visual computing.

The MMX technology, which has been added to the Pentium II processor, enhances performance for audio, video and graphics applications as well as speeds up data encryption and compression.

The computer manufacturers expect the market for Pentium II to be about 10,000-12,000 desktops by the end of this year. HCL-HP is targeting to sell close to 2,000-3,000 Pentium II desktops this year. The company would be manufacturing these PCs at its facility in Pondicherry.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.