Targeted at high-end home and business computing segments, 550Mhz P-III-run machines would soon be available with personal computer manufacturers across the country in the price range of Rs 1-1.5 lakh, said company officials.

Intel had earlier launched the 450 and 500 Mhz speed Pentium III series of processors in February this year. The response to these processors have been extremely positive, Intel Corporation, South Asia director, Atul Vijaykar, said in a company statement.

The Pentium III processor is highly internet-friendly and facilitates advanced imaging, 3-D, streaming audio, video and speech recognition applications, said company officials.

Speaking to The Financial Express, Intel Asia general manager (marketing) Kanwaljit Singh said that the company is betting on the exponential growth of internet in the country to boostdemand for the Pentium III series.

There are around 2 lakh internet subscribers in the country today. With private internet service providers gradually getting their act together, this figure is expected to grow exponentially, said Singh.

HCL Infosystems, one of the major personal computer manufacturers in the county, will be using the 550Mzh Pentium III processor in its Beanstalk range of home computers, said HCL Infosys general manager (marketing) Sharad Talwar. The machines will hit the market in six weeks time and priced in the Rs 1 lakh plus range, he added.

The 550Mzh Pentium III processors, 512 KB L2 cache and in SECC2 package, will be available at a price of $744 per unit for 1,000 unit quantity.The prices of 450Mhz Pentium III processors have already crashed from $500 to $270. 450Mhz Pentium III-run machines are now available in the market in the range of Rs 50,000, said market sources.

Starting from high-end, the price of 550Mhz is also expected to follow a similar southward trend in thecoming months, said market analysts.