IBM announced <A HREF="http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9584_22-6038995.html?tag=zdnn.alert">several new Unix servers,</A> including a midrange p5 570 system with faster Power5+ processors running at 2.2GHz. Until now, the Power5+ ran at a top speed of 1.9GHz, the same top speed as its fastest Power5 predecessor. In addition to the speed boost, IBM introduced some new models with its Quad Core Module technology, which puts two Power5+ chips in a single ceramic package that can plug into a socket that in the past would have been occupied by a single chip. IBM has put a priority on boosting clock speed. Frequencies will jump to a speed between 4GHz and 5GHz with the next major processor, Power6, due in 2007. Boosting performance is a key element of IBM's competitive attack in the Unix server market against its top rivals, Sun Microsystems and Hewlett-Packard.