Intel will gather hundreds of industry partners and pull out all the stops at an event scheduled for February 17 in San Jose, where the chip giant will show off the multimedia prowess of its forthcoming Pentium III processor to media and analysts.
"This will probably be the largest thing we've ever put on, the largest thing we'll do all year," an Intel spokeswoman said. "It's going to be an amazing show."
Intel has picked the February date to preview products optimised to take advantage of new instructions in its Pentium III processor which are designed to enhance 3D graphics, audio, video, speech recognition and other functions. The Pentium III was formerly known as Katmai.
Besides software applications, according to Intel, the event will feature a preview of new Internet content, personal computers, graphics cards, computer games and development tools that have been developed for or made possible by the Pentium III processor.
Tight-lipped
Intel is keeping tight-lipped about which companies will take part in the event. But it is believed partner companies will include Adobe, IBM and Microsoft, as well as speech recognition software firms Dragon Systems and Lernout and Hauspie Speech Products.
The Pentium III is expected to be introduced at the end of February or in very early March, with initial clock speeds to be 450MHz and 500MHz, the company has said.