System builders said they believe the Xeon 3000 series will be made up of the top-performing Core 2 Duo chips and is designed for one socket, or what Intel calls uniprocessor, servers. One system builder said Xeon 3000 processors will be paired with the Mukilteo-2 chipset, which he believed will offer some entry-level reliability and manageability features unavailable in the desktop chipsets.

The announcement, expected during Intel's Fall Developer Conference in late September, is the first time Intel will brand all processors aimed at servers under Xeon. Pentium Ds currently powering some servers and their companion chipsets have been branded under the desktop line.

An Intel spokeswoman declined to comment on unannounced product