INTEL TO REVISE SPECINT92 BENCHMARK RESULTS LOWER
     DUE TO BETA COMPILER ERROR
     
     SANTA CLARA, CALIF. -- Jan. 5, 1996 -- Intel Corporation today said a
     bug was discovered in the beta compiler used to generate SPEC
     benchmark results, leading to an overstatement of SPECint92 results
     for certain processors by about 10 percent.  SPECint92 is an older
     integer version of the industry's SPEC benchmark and is being phased
     out in favor of the more modern SPECint95.  The company emphasized
     that the beta compiler error does not affect performance results for
     SPECfp92, SPECint95 and SPECfp95, as well as various other
     Intel-reported benchmarks and Intel's iCOMP index, which are all
     accurate. The issue is confined to beta compiler software, and affects
     neither microprocessor function nor the performance of any
     applications.
        "While we know SPEC members have been moving rapidly toward the new
     SPEC95 benchmark suite as a preferred performance metric, we are
     embarrassed and truly sorry for this oversight," said Fred Pollack, an
     Intel Fellow and director of Intel's Measurement, Architecture and
     Planning Group.  SPEC is a cooperative computer industry group formed
     in 1989 to develop benchmarks that measure true processor performance.
      Pollack also said Intel processor performance as measured by
     SPECint95 still leads the industry.
        He said the updated version of the Intel C Reference Compiler 2.2
     will be distributed to beta users and corrected SPECint92 results will
     be made available within 10 days on Intel's web page
     (http://www.intel.com) and by faxback.  The beta compiler skewed
     SPECint92 performance results for Pentium processors 100 MHz and
     higher that were reported from Sept. 1, 1995, onward, and Pentium Pro
     processors which were introduced on Nov. 1, 1995.
        Those results were derived last fall, when the beta compiler was
     used on the SPEC92 023.eqntott benchmark leading to a 15 to 18 percent
     improvement in SPECint92 for the Intel processors.  At the time, Intel
     noted in its Pentium Pro processor performance brief that some of the
     optimizations used for 023.eqntott were included to enable an
     equitable comparison between its processors and those of other vendors
     also using the same optimization.  Intel also acknowledged that the
     resulting increase in 023.eqntott was actually far more than expected,
     and concluded that it apparently benefits Intel processors more than
     others.  For that reason, in the performance brief Intel strongly
     encouraged users to transition to SPEC95, which is a major improvement
     over SPEC92.  SPEC95 does not include 023.eqntott, and is thus
     unaffected by this optimization.
        The final Intel Reference C Compiler 2.2 is expected to ship next
     month to developers.
        Intel, the world's largest chip maker, is also a leading
     manufacturer of personal computer, networking and communications
     products.