Further details have emerged regarding Intel's plan to create a Centrino-like business PC platform and brand, currently codenamed 'Averill', as first reported by The Register (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/29/intel_averill_platform_plan/) in November 2005. Averill will now arrive in two forms, Pro and Fundamental, and both are geared toward Windows Vista.

Intel outlined (http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2005/03/01/intel_desktrino/) its Averill business PC platform in March 2005, but it was only toward the end of last year that the company began to hint it would bring the platform to market in a Centrino-style branding exercise.

The move mirrors Intel's Viiv initiative for home-oriented media centre PCs. Viiv comprises two sub-species, one based on Core Duo processors, the other on Pentium D chips. Unlike Viiv, Averill looks set to make a virtue of the fact, with distinct branding for the two streams.

Averill Pro will be based on Intel's next-generation architecture desktop chip, the dual-core, 65nm 'Conroe' processor, due to ship in Q3. The specification will also include the upcoming Q965 'Broadwater' chipset. Averill Fundamental is based on the current generation Pentium D processor and the Q963 chipset. Both chipsets will support DDR 2 SDRAM, with the Q965 running memory clocked up to 800MHz, while the Q963 tops out at 667MHz. Both parts can host a 1066MHz frontside bus.

In March 2005, Intel said Averill would support (http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2005/03/01/intel_desktrino/) a future generation of its Active Management Technology and would at long last introduce its security system, 'LaGrande'. LaGrande has been held up largely by the need to wait for Microsoft to ship Windows Vista, so it's no wonder that will be Averill Pro's OS of choice.

The Q965 and Q963 chipsets are expected to be joined by the P965 and G965, both aimed at consumer systems - they'll underpin next-generation, Conroe-based Viiv systems due later this year. ®

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