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| Top Stories for June 30, 2000 (details below) | |
| ZDNet News | AMD hammering at 64-bit desktops |
| C/Net | Intel revs its engines with plans for 1.13-GHz Pentium III |
| ZD Net UK | Transmeta and Linux to run the future home |
| C/Net | Former Intel employee admits to computer fraud |
| The Register Files | |
| The Register | Sacked Intel geek wreaks terrible revenge |
| The Register | AMD blows Intel into the mobile weeds |
| The Register | Transmeta signs stack of notebook suppliers |
| The Register | Transmeta grows Crusoe line-up |
| Microprocessor
Headline News Collected By Robert R. Collins |
Week of June 25, 2000 |
Older News |
| June 30, 2000 | ||
AMD hammering at 64-bit desktopsBy John G. Spooner June 29, 2000 |
Sampling of 64-bit server chip due to PC makers my early 2001. But will there be 64-bit apps?
Some say it can't or shouldn't be done, but Advanced Micro Devices Inc. is looking to an Athlon successor to bring 64-bit computing to the desktop PC. Although not due until at least late next year, a replacement for Athlon will run at 2GHz and above, offering 64-bit memory addressing, AMD officials revealed here at PC Expo. The new chip will be based on technology from AMD's 64-bit server chip, code-named Sledgehammer. |
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Intel revs its engines with plans for 1.13-GHz Pentium IIIBy Michael Kanellos June 29, 2000 |
Megahertz madness continues next month when Intel releases a 1.13-GHz Pentium III on July 31.
The new chip, likely one of the last versions of the Pentium III for desktop systems, will mark yet another milestone in the escalating performance war between Intel and rival Advanced Micro Devices. Since last August, when AMD released its Athlon processor, the two companies have competed for the right to the chip speed crown. That trophy has changed hands a number of times. |
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Transmeta and Linux to run the future homeBy Will Knight June 29, 2000 |
The wired home of the future will have Web pads and all
manner of networked appliances using Transmeta hardware
and the Linux operating system
PC manufacturer Gateway believes that Transmeta and Linux will lead a revolution in home technology, representatives said at a presentation in Ireland Wednesday. |
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Former Intel employee admits to computer fraudBy Michael Kanellos June 29, 2000 |
A former Intel engineer who managed to put the brakes on chip production at one of the company's fabrication facilities pleaded guilty to computer fraud.
Paul Barton, a former software engineer at Intel, pleaded guilty to one count of computer fraud this week in U.S. District Court in Oregon, according to Kent Robinson, an assistant U.S. attorney. |
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| June 29, 2000 | ||
Transmeta technology receives ZDNet Trendsetter award June 28, 2000 |
Which new products are blazing the technological trail? The recipients of ZDNet's annual Trendsetter award are forward-looking technologies that we're impressed by today -- and will take for granted tomorrow. | |
Compaq, Dell shy off Transmeta Crusoe chipBy John G. Spooner June 28, 2000 |
Performance issues keep Compaq and Dell from embracing Transmeta's microprocessor -- for now. Compaq exec says the current Crusoe will 'disappoint' consumers.
While Crusoe's ship appears to have come in, some large PC makers have decided to hold off on adopting the new chip for notebook PCs. At least for now. |
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IBM, Gateway using Quanta for Transmeta plansBy Michael Kanellos June 28, 2000 |
What do IBM's notebook incorporating Transmeta's processor and the upcoming web pad from Gateway and AOL have in common? They will be made by the same company.
Quanta Computer, one of the Taiwan's larger notebook designers, will manufacture the IBM ThinkPad 240 with the Transmeta chip, due later this year, as well as the Transmeta-based Gateway web pad, sources say. Quanta also owns an equity stake in Transmeta, according to the chip company. |
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VIA Set to Capitalize on Intel's WoesJune 28, 2000 |
The delayed launch of Intel Corp.'s new 815 chipset could be a rare opportunity for its local rival, Taiwan's VIA Technologies Inc.
According to local industry analysts, VIA is in a good position to win half of the global chipset market in the next few months. Intel introduced its 815 chipset earlier this month, but it will not ramp up production until the fourth quarter. |
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Via reaffirms support for DDR SRAMJune 28, 2000 |
VIA Technologies Inc. today said it is committed to supporting the emerging Double Data Rate
(DDR) SDRAM standard for all segments of the PC market.
The announcement reaffirms a statement issued by VIA in April saying that it would advocate and promote the technology as a successor to PC-133 memory, the de facto standard for high-performance PCs this year. VIA is a fabless supplier of PC core logic chipsets, microprocessors, and multimedia and communications chips. |
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Intel brands Willamette as Pentium 4By John G. Spooner June 28, 2000 |
Intel Corp. on Wednesday announced a new (albeit somewhat predictable) brand name for its next-generation desktop processor.
The chip, formerly known by the code name Willamette after the river in Oregon, will be re-christened as Pentium 4. Intel says the chip will bring much-increased clock speed performance to the high-end desktop PC. |
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The Register Files |
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Sacked Intel geek wreaks terrible revengeBy Andrew Thomas June 28, 2000 |
Should you, dear reader. Be unceremoniously fired from your comfy job for life, would you feel any animosity to your former employer?
Of course you would. So when Paul Barton heard the grim reaper tolling the death knell "could you just step into my office, Paul?" Thoughts of revenge swam unbidden into his mind. Paul Douglas Barton, 62, of Beaverton was charged with breaking into a computer at Intel's Fab 15 plant in California. |
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AMD blows Intel into the mobile weedsBy Andrew Thomas June 28, 2000 |
Lawks, as my old mum used to say. The imitators are taking over the asylum. AMD's PowerNow technology is so far ahead of Chipzilla's
Geezerville/Speedstep concept as to make Intel look very second rate indeed.
Much was made of Intel's SpeedStep concept when it bounded onto the mobile stage. Indeed it was pretty cool, allowing laptops to run efficiently on batteries and to go really fast when plugged into the mains. This very story was written on a SpeedStep P3 machine supplied by Evesham Micros speeding through the Cotswolds on the Hereford Express. |
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Transmeta signs stack of notebook suppliersBy Tony Smith June 28, 2000 |
Transmeta CEO Dave Ditzel yesterday told the PC Expo crowd about a heap of design wins for the chip company's x86-emulating, low power consuming Crusoe CPU.
Computer makers who have apparently backed Transmeta include Fujitsu, NEC and Hitachi, and Ditzel also confirmed earlier reports that IBM will be using Crusoe in an upcoming slimline portable. He also said two more companies, who he could not yet name, would be announcing Crusoe-based kit shortly. |
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Transmeta grows Crusoe line-upBy Tony Smith June 28, 2000 |
Transmeta yesterday unveiled the extension of its Crusoe family of CPUs with three new varities of the low-power, x86-emulatin' chip.
The current Crusoe line-up comprises the 5400, a high clock-speed chip for the Windows notebook market, and the 3200, aimed at portable Internet access devices. |
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Today's Related Stories |
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Intel's new chip to be called Pentium 4By Michael Kanellos June 28, 2000 |
Intel will call Willamette, its next-generation processor, the Pentium 4.
The Pentium 4 will succeed the Pentium III and in many ways will be a landmark release for the chipmaker. For one, Willamette, and a related chip for servers code-named "Foster," will feature an entirely new architecture, which will give the company room to innovate or tap new features. For more than five years, new Intel microprocessors have relied on the same basic architecture. The Pentium Pro, which came out in October 1995, effectively features the same "P6" design as the Pentium II, the Celeron, Xeon processors and the Pentium III. |
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Chipmaker introduces Pentium 4 processor at speeds of 1.5 gigahertzJune 29, 2000 |
Intel Corp. introduced on Wednesday its new high-end Pentium 4 computer chip, formerly code-named Willamette, running at an advertised 1.5 billion bits of information per second for faster graphics and game play.
Intel has been competing with Advanced Micro Devices Inc. to produce the fastest central processing unit. |
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| June 28, 2000 | ||
Major notebook players jump on Transmeta bandwagonBy Stephen Shankland June 27, 2000 |
Transmeta's Crusoe processor will debut in ultralight laptops from IBM, Hitachi, Fujitsu and NEC in the second half of the year, and more are to come, Transmeta chief executive Dave Ditzel said today.
At least two other companies will use Crusoe chips in notebooks and Web pads, he added, speaking at the PC Expo trade show. So far, Gateway and AOL have said they will use a Crusoe in its upcoming Web pad. More Crusoe processors are also on the way. The company currently manufacturers a chip named the 5400 for notebooks and the 3200 for devices. The upcoming 5600 will provide higher performance for notebooks, along with new 3300 and 3400 chips for devices. |
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Transmeta makes splash Startup chip maker's 'Crusoe' processor draws big-name backersBy Richard Richtmyer June 27, 2000 |
Startup chip maker Transmeta made some waves at the PC Expo trade show here Tuesday where it showcased products from four major PC makers which use its low-power "Crusoe" microprocessor.
In what founder and chief executive David Ditzel described as the company's "coming out party for systems," Transmeta demonstrated working prototypes of Crusoe-based notebook computers from IBM, Hitachi and NEC. Fujitsu also has agreed to use Crusoe processors in one of its upcoming notebook computers. |
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Transmeta Unfolds Road Map, Secures OEMsBy Mark Hachman June 27, 2000 |
NEW YORK -- Chip-making newcomer Transmeta is apparently for real. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based manufacturer of low-power PC and embedded microprocessors said that, as expected, four top-tier notebook vendors displayed Transmeta-powered notebooks as part of a technology demonstration at PC Expo here. The company also offered a glimpse of its PC and embedded technology road map. |
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Transmeta: Lightweight ContenderBy John Gartner June 27, 2000 |
Newcomer Transmeta is taking on Intel in the battle for mobile users who want continuous Net access with no strings attached.
The upstart chip company on Tuesday unveiled a series of prototype notebooks using its Crusoe chip that promises to last longer and run cooler than any Intel chip currently available. Both companies agree that consumers dependant on PDAs and cell phones want featherweight laptops that weigh less than three pounds, connect wirelessly to the Net, and have batteries that stay charged for six or more hours. |
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Transmeta's Crusoe wins 'ultralight' friends at PC ExpoBy Ken Popovich June 27, 2000 |
Upstart microprocessor maker Transmeta Corp. garnered some early attention here at PC Expo Tuesday by demonstrating for the first time its energy-efficient Crusoe chip running on ultralight notebooks produced by PC manufacturers Hitachi, IBM and NEC.
In addition, Transmeta displayed a small motherboard configuration that the company said will be used in an ultralight laptop currently being developed by Fujitsu. |
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Transmeta, AMD Show Battery-Friendly Notes
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Transmeta and Advanced Micro Devices unveiled products here Tuesday based on power-saving processors they claim are a step up from Intel's SpeedStep Pentium III chips.
AMD showed off shipping products in the form of Hewlett-Packard's latest Pavilion notebooks, which feature AMD K6-2+ processors with PowerNow technology. Transmeta wowed PC Expo attendees with thin-and-light prototypes from IBM, Hitachi, and NEC, but offered no official release dates. |
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Linux server maker to use Transmeta chipsBy Stephen Shankland June 27, 2000 |
Rebel.com, a Canadian manufacturer of small Linux computers originally designed by Corel, will add servers using Transmeta's Crusoe processor to its product line, the company said today.
Rebel.com, based in Ottawa and formerly known as Hardware Computing Canada, sells a line of Linux servers that are based on Intel's StrongArm chip. Rebel.com will add Transmeta's designs to that NetWinder line, the company said at the PC Expo trade show here. |
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| June 27, 2000 | ||
Transmeta Fires Up Low-Power Chip Strategy
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Transmeta will make its long-awaited announcement on the opening day of PC Expo in New York this week as to which OEMs will be the first to load their mobile computers with the company's low-power Crusoe processor.
The initiative could trigger new competition with established rivals Intel and Advanced Micro Devices on the low-wattage front. As many as six Crusoe-powered mobile devices will be on display at the trade show, representing both domestic and Japanese OEMs, according to Ed McKernam, director of marketing at Transmeta. |
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Crusoe ready to sail
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Crusoe, a new mobile processor from Silicon Valley upstart Transmeta Inc., will make its first public appearance at PC Expo in New York this week in several notebook prototypes from major OEMs.
Transmeta officials will tout the company's OEM relationships and herald its energy-efficient TM5400 processor as the ideal chip for notebooks, but some industry observers hold out little hope that the company will be able to break into the lucrative corporate notebook market. |
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Rambus clock ticks down for IntelBy Jack Robertson June 26, 2000 |
The clock is running out on Intel Corp.'s special deals with Rambus Inc. That could change the MPU company's long love affair with the packet DRAM designed by
Rambus.
Intel has an agreement to get warrants for 40 million shares of Rambus stock at $2.50 each (originally 10 million, but now adjusted for a 4-to-1 stock split). That would be a tidy windfall at the Rambus stock price on Friday of $125. Unfortunately for Intel, that agreement has a deadline: By the end of this year, at least 20% of all chipsets Intel ships must have been Rambus-enabled for two consecutive quarters. |
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Hitachi's royalties to Rambus may not apply to pending venture with NECBy Jack Robertson June 26, 2000 |
Hitachi Ltd., in its settlement last week with Rambus Inc., will pay royalties on synchronous DRAMs and double-data-rate (DDR) DRAMs only through Dec. 31, 2000, when the marketing of these devices will be shifted to the new NEC Hitachi Memories Inc. joint venture.
Avo Kanadjian, vice president of worldwide marketing for Rambus, confirmed that last week's settlement with Hitachi doesn't cover the joint venture, which will be the sole marketing arm for DRAMs produced by both Japanese chip makers. "It covers the transition period before the NEC and Hitachi joint DRAM venture becomes effective," he said. |
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Rambus Uses Patent Clout To Cut Better DealsBy Jack Robertson June 26, 2000 |
Emboldened by a stunning settlement with Hitachi, Rambus is using its newfound clout in the area of patent enforcement to negotiate royalty agreements with the rest of the industry's DRAM makers -- particularly those pushing double data rate (DDR)
SDRAM.
The legal masterstroke, which could set the stage for Rambus to exact fees from a variety of DRAM and logic IC makers that use a synchronous memory interface, has set the semiconductor industry on its ear. Refining the scope of its patent claim, Rambus said it is choosing for now to focus on SDRAM, DDR SDRAM, and logic controllers. While not a primary target, that would appear to include the new wave of microprocessors coming from the likes of Intel (stock: INTC), Sega, Transmeta, and Via Technologies, each of which uses a direct interface to synchronous memory. |
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Intel-AMD: It's a post-gigahertz hangoverBy John G. Spooner June 26, 2000 |
Following a mad dash to develop 1GHz processors, rivals AMD and Intel are taking a chip breather. Sort of...
While PC chip makers Intel and Advanced Micro Devices drove pedal-to-the-metal to reach the 1GHz mark for their desktop processors, the two are looking to return to a more normal (read: slower) pace for the introduction of new chips. The titans are preparing gigahertz-plus desktop chips, but consumers shouldn't expect to see them right away. Instead, most of the action will come with price reductions on 1GHz PCs, a benefit of ramping production. |
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AMD boosts speed on notebook chipsBy Michael Kanellos June 26, 2000 |
Advanced Micro Devices unveiled two new K6-2+ processors for notebooks today, which Hewlett-Packard has adopted for its consumer line.
The new chips run at 550 and 533 MHz and will appear in HP's N3300 Pavilion notebooks, according to AMD. Both chips contain AMD's PowerNow technology, which reduces the amount of power the notebook consumes while idle. |
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Smaller is better, says AMD's CEOBy John G. Spooner June 26, 2000 |
AMD CEO Hector de J. Ruiz thinks its better to be small and agile than big and directionally challenged. Is somebody pooh-poohing Intel?
There may have been a time when its small size was a disadvantage for Advanced Micro Devices Inc. But small is nimble, small is quick. And the chip maker's new president is working to exploit AMD's size to speed innovation. AMD (NYSE: AMD) President and Chief Operating Officer Hector de J. Ruiz sat down with a small group of reporters Monday afternoon. What emerged was Ruiz's quiet determination to win the company's battle against Intel Corp. |
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The Register Files |
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How the hell... do I countersue Rambus?By Mike Magee June 26, 2000 |
In the interests of history, we thought we would bring to our readers the entire document Hitachi presented in its bid to countersue
Rambus.
Last week, as reported here, Hitachi settled with Rambus but we have had many enquiries as to which DDR and SDRAM patents are involved. Those details are within this court deposition, as is a whole heap of info about JEDEC which readers will find fascinating. |
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How the hell... do I countersue Rambus IIBy Mike Magee June 26, 2000 |
...very technology and potential standards being discussed by other JEDEC participants.
122. By participating in the JEDEC standards development process without disclosing its pending patent applications covering synchronous DRAM interface technology, and by revising its applications and later filing related applications to attempt to make its later-issued patents cover products manufactured to be compatible with the JEDEC standard, Rambus intentionally misled JEDEC members into promulgating standards which, according to Rambus’ allegations against Hitachi, is not the open standard the JEDEC members intended and believed it to be. 123. Rambus’ subversion of JEDEC’s rules misled JEDEC members and the rest of the industry into believing that products compatible with the open JEDEC standard for SDRAMs would not be subject to any undisclosed claim of proprietary rights or assertions of patent infringement by Rambus. |
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Rambus too expensive - IntelBy Mike Magee June 26, 2000 |
The general manager of Intel Europe has conceded that Rambus memory is still too expensive, despite widely announced price drops.
However, Robert L Eckelmann, who heads the chip company in this continent, speaking to a small coterie of Euro-hacks last week, hoped that the prices will fall even further. Eckelmann said: "They've come down quite a bit from very high levels. They obviously need to come down more. They've come down 50 per cent in the last year." He added: "It won't be multiple years," for Rambus prices to fall further. |
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Celeron stuck in a 66MHz timewarpBy Andrew Thomas June 26, 2000 |
Those readers who have been paying attention will remember that today's the day for the latest batch of flip-chip Celerons to be released. Incoming! Intel goes launch crazy.
Here are the fascinating facts: Celeron 700 MHz = $192 (1Ku), 667 MHz = $170 (1Ku), 633 MHz = $136 (1Ku). All FCPGA built on 0.18 micron. |
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| June 26, 2000 | ||
Rambus win may mean $1 billion in revenueBy Ian Fried June 23, 2000 |
Rambus' deal to license its technology to Hitachi for use in standard memory could pave the way for the company to generate $1 billion in revenue by 2003, an analyst said today.
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter analyst Mark Edelstone, a longtime Rambus proponent, said that by 2003, Rambus could be collecting 1 to 2 percent on nearly all memory chips, as well as the memory controllers that allow processors and memory chips to share data. "Effectively, five years from now, Rambus is collecting royalties on virtually the entire memory market," Edelstone said. |
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Hitachi's licensing terms may be higher by settling with RambusBy Jack Robertson June 23, 2000 |
The payments that Hitachi Ltd. has agreed to make to Rambus Inc. to settle its synchronous-memory-interface patent suit with the company could be more than other chip makers will be charged to license the technology, a Rambus official said Thursday.
"You have to distinguish between a settlement and a [licensing] agreement. Basically the payments in an agreement should be better than a settlement," said Avo Kanadjian, vice president of world wide marketing for Rambus, Mountain View, Calif. |
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Patent Settlement Sends Rambus Stock SoaringBy Reuters June 23, 2000 |
Rambus on Thursday said computer memory supplier Hitachi had agreed to a patent licensing deal, settling patent litigation between the two and putting added pressure on other chip makers to strike similar royalty deals with
Rambus.
News of the deal sent Rambus (stock: RMBS) shares soaring 43 percent to as high as 138 3/4 in furious after-hours trading on Thursday, up from a close of 97 1/8 in regular session trading on the Nasdaq stock market, adding to a 4 1/2 point gain on the day. |
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Rambus doubles bandwidth with retooled interfaceBy Anthony Cataldo June 23, 2000 |
Rambus Inc. has disclosed the technical specifications of its quad-pumped chip interface, which taps some hard-won design modifications to double the bandwidth of the current Rambus interface without altering its clock frequency.
Rambus engineers said they expect the quad interface, which can transfer data at 1.6 Gbits/second per pin, to be used first in communications or consumer applications, such as game machines, even as DRAM makers continue to crank up the speed of current Direct Rambus devices, which target PCs. |
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Taiwan board makers praise Intel's new 815 chipsetBy Faith Hung June 23, 2000 |
Intel Corp.'s new 815 chipset has opened to rave reviews from Taiwan's motherboard makers for its performance-if not for its price.
Introduced last week, the chipset underscores Intel's efforts to finally support PC133 SDRAM after holding back for more than a year trying to get PC makers to upgrade instead to Direct Rambus DRAM. Considered a successor to the highly successful Intel 440BX chipset, the 815 offers 4XAGP graphics support and can interface with either the most advanced external graphics cards with dedicated memory or integrated graphics using the so-called Unified Memory Architecture. An 815e version includes ATA100 hard-drive support. |
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The Register Files |
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Hitachi capitulates to RambusBy Mike Magee June 23, 2000 |
Semiconductor firm Hitachi signed a deal with Rambus ending litigation between the companies and agreeing to pay royalties on synchronous memories and double data rate (DDR) memories.
Hitachi will pay Rambus a settlement fee and royalty payments for both RDRAM and any DDR or SDRAMs it chooses to manufacture. And Rambus said it will charge more royalties for DDR and SDRAM memories than for its own RDRAM. That should equalise the current delta a little. |
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Micron holds out in Rambus patent gameBy Mike Magee June 24, 2000 |
Hitachi may have come out of the patent trenches with its hands up, Toshiba may have surrended to Rambus, the Great Satan of IP, but Micron has not yet given up the ghost, it emerged late yesterday.
Responding to a question as to whether Micron would now license DDR (double data rate) and SDRAM (synchronous memory) patents, from Rambus, a representative late last night showed that her company, at least, was not a crumbly Dramurai. |
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Intel wants caviar, not cod roe, from IA-64By Mike Magee June 25, 2000 |
A stretch of water was all that separated the King of Sweden and the King of the
Itanic, Craig Barrett last week. And, we were assured by an earnest cab driver in Stockholm, you can still catch big fat salmon in these waters -- a fact certain to delight Intel's "Ice Man", a lover of outdoor pursuits.
The fat salmon which Intel wants to land over the next three years, however, come in the somewhat protean shape of large corporations, deploying the firm's IA-64 architecture and turning those horrible UltraSparc, Power PC and Compaq Alpha sharks into nothing more than prickly sticklebacks. |
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Compaq to create 0.13 micron Intel killerBy Mike Magee June 23, 2000 |
Fears that Compaq will ditch the Alpha processor appear to have been scotched with sources claiming the firm will produce the 64-bit processor using a 0.13 micron process and target it at Intel IA-64 processors.
But at the same time, the move to IBM copper technology seems to have thrown something of a spanner into Compaq's current plans, causing delays and slippages, with Samsung, too, encountering problems clocking the Alpha to high clock rates. |
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