Intel assures uniform supply of CPUs

Following complaints from the channel about unavailability of Celeron and
P-III processor, Intel has assured partners that the supply will become regular
by mid-June.

Said Amar Babu, GM (Channels), South Asia, “Given the fact that March is a
strong month, we did not expect sales in April to be very high. But, this is
precisely what happened. So to meet the demand, we gave the supplies allotted
for May in March, leading to a shortfall in May.”

Intel, however, denied reports that the supply has been erratic for almost a
quarter. “The challenges in supply were present only in May. If partners are
not getting the CPUs from distributors, I would advise them to inform us about
this issue directly,” added Babu.

Intel also recently launched its Brookdale chipsets. In a bid to make these
chipsets a better selling proposition for channels, Intel will soon be launching
Brookdale-compatible motherboards that support DDR and RDRAM for the 845G and
845GL chipsets.

These motherboards have an onboard graphic card. Since a separate graphic
card costs approximately Rs 1,500, the motherboard will bring the total platform
cost of the system down by at least Rs 3,000. Said Babu, “The quality of the
graphics in the Brookdale chipsets are high. They are also USB 2.0
compatible.”

Training has already been provided to partners to make a transition to the
new chipset architecture. The 845GL chipset is targeted at the lower-end
segment, while 845G and 850E will be aimed at the middle and high-end buyers.

Vinita Suvarna Bhatia

(CNS)