Elmer & Intel Investors - The First i815 (Solano) PC with 133 MHz SDRAM may be from Hewlett Packard !
"HP has selected the Intel 815 chip set, which Intel (stock: INTC) will formally roll out Monday, sources said. "
As of Monday, Intel should be back in the Chip Set business with a competitive product supporting 133 MHz SDRAMs.
Paul
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HP Boosts 'Always On' Push With New Gear
By TechWeb News
Jun 15, 2000 (8:43 AM)
URL: techweb.com
As part of its new "Always On" initiative, Hewlett-Packard on Wednesday debuted a Vectra corporate PC that can signal tech support from beyond the grave. HP (stock: HWP) identified several existing products, as well as the new Vectra VL400 PC, as key components of a renewed thrust to maximize the manageability of a customer's PC, its uptime, and Internet-enabled applications and services. In rolling out the services, HP hopes to assist IT managers in planning a deployment of PCs, rolling them out, managing their operation, and then retiring them after about 12 months.
Included in the "Always On" initiative is the new Vectra, together with the NetServer Ultra3 SCSI storage device, TopTools 5.0 network polling service, HP's e-configure PC configuration program for VARs, HP's Instant Support feature, and the existing OmniBook 6000 notebook PC. The "Always On" initiative is itself a component of HP's plan to develop information appliances, such as the "e-watch" partnership with Swatch, alongside Internet-based services.
Among other features, the Vectra VL400 contains sophisticated diagnostic tools that poll each of the PCs components before booting, said Achim Kuttler, product line manager for North American commercial desktops at HP, Cupertino, Calif. If the system identifies a component failure and fails to boot up, the system will emit a series of tones. If a user dials HP's customer support, those tones, transmitted through a telephone, will identify the problem to a device that translates them into error messages for the technical support staff.
"A corporate IT manager doesn't want to spend his time fixing products," Kuttler said. "He wants to be able to search out new business processes instead."
From a hardware standpoint, the Vectra VL400 was designed to allow an IT manager flexibility to customize the PC, but from a single common platform. HP has selected the Intel 815 chip set, which Intel (stock: INTC) will formally roll out Monday, sources said. That chip set's support for both the Pentium III and Celeron processors enabled HP to develop versions of the Vectra that include both processors. Although the chip set does provide some basic integrated graphics acceleration, HP designed a motherboard that lets a customer select a more advanced graphics chip from Matrox Graphics. Three form factors will be provided: a small form factor, a desktop, and a minitower configuration, all based on the microATX motherboard specification.
Finally, HP sidestepped the restrictions of the PC 2001 guidelines, which explicitly forbid the use of the older ISA bus. While the chip set eliminates ISA entirely, HP will supply a two-slot ISA extension board that can be plugged into a PCI slot, allowing so-called legacy components to be used.
In configuring the new Vectras, HP said it hopes VARs will use e-configure, a service that lets VARs funnel the customer's configuration choices directly to HP, while either managing the sale or transferring that operation to HP as well. The TopTools service lets an IT manager maintain a consistent "image" of a PC, or of its hardware and supporting software, and transfer it to newly deployed Vectra PCs as well.
The TopTools software is sophisticated enough to maintain the image, even if the hardware is upgraded. Some of the worst headaches for an IT manager are dealing with the constant flux of software driver revisions, especially in graphics chips.
"We are in tight contact with Matrox and 3Com, our graphics and communications suppliers," Kuttler said. "They have committed to [driver] stability...Even if the component changes, there won't be an impact on the image."
In addition, the 3Com LAN chip has been soldered to the motherboard.
While the Vectra VL400 is designed for a 12-month lifespan, the Omnibook 6000 notebook series, announced in March, has an estimated lifespan of 18 to 24 months.
Processor options on the new Vectra include either a 566-MHz Celeron or 933-MHz Pentium III, both in a socketed form factor.
HP has included a fixed 128 Mbytes of PC133 SDRAM memory, although a customer hasd the option of either a 10-, 15, or 30-Gbyte 7,200-RPM hard drive. Additional options include a smart card reader, Iomega Zip drive, and external USB modem.
Prices were not disclosed. |
