Intel Readies New Pentium M ProcessorIntel Readies New Pentium M Processor

Intel's second-generation mobile Centrino platform will begin to take shape in the second quarter with the introduction of the delayed "Dothan" Pentium M processor, the company said Wednesday at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco.

In addition, Intel's Sonoma platform, which includes the new Pentium M and Intel's first trimode wireless LAN offering, will be introduced in the second half of the year.

The Dothan will be the first mobile processor manufactured by Intel on a 90-nanometer process, says Anand Chandrasekher, VP and general manager for the Mobile Platforms Group.

Intel had planned to introduce Dothan in the first quarter but was forced to push the introduction out because of "quality issues at the last step of the validation process," Chandrasekher says.

Dothan will be able to provide about a 15% performance boost at an equal clock speed with the previous-generation Banias version of Pentium M, he says. That improvement is primarily because of Dothan's 2-Mbyte cache, double the size of the previous version.

Dothan will be introduced at 1.7 GHz, the high-performance level of existing Pentium M devices, and an offering at an undisclosed higher performance rate, Chandrasekher says.

The new Pentium M will also increase the front-side bus speed from 400 MHz to 533 MHz, although the increased bus speed won't be enabled until the introduction of Sonoma.

Sonoma will include the first integrated 802.11a/b/g from Intel. In addition, the wireless LAN capability will be compatible with the 802.11i security standard based on the Advanced Encryption Standard.

The release of Dothan before Sonoma will let makers of notebook computers offer a "midlife kick" in performance over existing systems, Chandrasekher says. Dothan is plug-compatible with Banias, allowing manufacturers to easily upgrade.

Chandrasekher says support for Sonoma appears strong. When Banias was introduced a year ago, Intel announced 33 designs from equipment makers at launch. Sonoma already has 67 designs in the works, with more expected by its formal launch later this year.