THREAD --- MERCED IMPACT-WHO IS AFFECTED---Dow Jones Newswires -- May 29, 1998
Intel's Merced Delayed -2: Other Products Cushion Impact
Many industry experts said Intel's delay of Merced should have been expected given the complexity of the design.
"This is a significantly different chip," said Mel Thomsen, director of consulting at Microdesign Resources. "It's a big project" with many new "learning experiences" for Intel.
Some analysts also said Intel might not feel the delay in its financial results for some time. The company has several new products coming out over the next couple years, including a powerful Xeon version of its Pentium II family later this year, and other chips code named Katmai and Tanner in 1999.
The company could conceivably squeeze out another generation of products from its Pentium II architecture using 0.18-micron technology, said C.B. Lee, an analyst at Hancock Institutional Equity Services.
"They have plenty of products coming," so the revenue impact of the delay even in 2000 will be minimal, said Nathan Brookwood, an analyst at Dataquest.
But the delay provides an opportunity for Unix vendor Sun Microsystems, processor maker International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) and Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC), which sells the speedy Alpha chip.
A late Merced, however, is a blow for vendors planning on its timely arrival, including Hewlett-Packard, Silicon Graphics Inc. (SGI), Sequent Computer Systems Inc. (SQNT) and even Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), which is relying on powerful hardware to run its Windows NT 5.0 operating system.
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