Intel turns to partners to raise server share
Sep. 22, 2000 (Electronic Buyers News - CMP via COMTEX) -- Intel Corp. is
tapping partners on both sides of the Pacific as it seeks to increase its
already significant share of the server market.
The Santa Clara, Calif., company last week quietly launched its SBT2 server
motherboard for Pentium III Xeon chips with speeds up to 1 GHz, and used for the
first time its partner ServerWorks' two- and four-way MPU chipset supporting
PC133 SDRAMs.
ServerWorks has been supplying chipsets for some time for servers and
workstations, but this is the first time Intel has used its partner's logic
controllers. The devices augment Intel's 840 Direct Rambus chipset and aging
440BX server versions.
At the same time, Intel and NEC Corp. announced an alliance to coordinate R&D
and road maps to share technology on future server components. The partnership
is aimed at the exploding Internet network-server market.
Intel and NEC agreed that any server components resulting from the program will
be built by either company but marketed by both.
Intel also said that Network Appliance Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif., has adopted
ServerWorks' chipset for its Internet servers. The Intel partner supports
Pentium processors only, and its wide-bandwidth, two-way logic controllers are
widely penetrating the Internet network-server market.
ServerWorks' president and chief executive, Raju Vagesno, claims to have more
than 30 network-server design wins. "Network Appliance is just the first
customer that we now have permission to identify," he said.
Vagesno declined to comment on Intel's SBT2 motherboard using ServerWorks' PC133
chipset.
Intel's SBT2 server motherboard stirred industry interest, as the company
continued to increase its PC133 support after initially holding back to promote
Direct Rambus solutions.
Until last week, Intel's Web site and literature featured only its 840 chipset
and Direct Rambus for high-performance servers.
Intel's 840 chipset and higher-priced Direct RDRAM aren't positioned for the
server market, according to Greg Clausen, an analyst at InQuest Market Research,
Gilbert, Ariz. The 840 and DRDRAM in their current state would have problems
supporting error-correction code and chip kill, two critical features for server
applications, he said.
The 840, however, is a good platform for the high-end workstation market,
Clausen said.
The Intel-NEC server alliance forges a closer link between two companies that
already have strong ties. NEC, the largest server OEM in Japan, has long been a
major Intel customer. Earlier, NEC and Intel joined forces to open one of the
U.S. processor company's Internet service facilities in Japan.
The Intel-NEC deal adds to the questions surrounding Intel's server road map,
which refers only to DDR chipsets the company will develop itself. It is unclear
if the technology cooperation with NEC will help strengthen Intel's development
of its own future server chipsets.
ServerWorks has said it will continue to work closely with Intel on future
server chipsets, and the chipset maker's sales won't be affected by Intel
introducing its own units late next year.
In other server activity last week, Sun Microsystems Inc. acquired a major
Internet network-server maker, Cobalt Networks Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif., in a
$1.8 billion stock swap.
Sun executives said the deal gives the company entry into low-price Internet
servers. The arrangement also brings into Sun's server line for the first time
non-Sparc microprocessors.
Cobalt uses both MIPS processors from QED Inc. and K6II MPUs from Advanced Micro
Devices Inc. Only two weeks ago, Sun introduced its own UltraSparc IIe embedded
processor for application in lower-priced workstations and servers.
Sources said it's too early to tell how Sun will sort out the microprocessor
issue for the Cobalt server line. Indeed, Sun executives said for the time
being, they will continue to sell the current Cobalt units with MIPS and AMD
processors.
But some felt Sun eventually would like to harmonize its server line by
designing its UltraSparc IIe into new low-end network servers developed around
the Cobalt line.
ebnonline.com |
