Digital Watch:
Look who's become Intel's chief legal counsel
By Mike Feibus
I stroll through the doublewide glass doors at Intel's headquarters. Normally, I stop at the desk to sign in. But not today. Instead, I tip my employee badge to the security officer. The door buzzes open. Due to a one-of-a-kind exchange program--a product of my own twisted imagination--I now work for Intel.
Allow me to introduce myself: I'm Mike Feibus, chief legal counsel at Intel. No need to print business cards, though. I'm only here for the day. So I'd better get busy.
Let's see. Looks like a lawsuit at the top of the pile. Digital Equipment is after us for patent infringement. I wonder what Digital really wants? Let's think about this. The company's Alpha processor is fast. Really fast. But entium Pro and Pentium II processors running Windows NT are encroaching on its core markets in workstations and servers--just as Digital is making a push into the mainstream with Alpha on Windows NT. In fact, most software vendors and computer makers are lining up behind Intel-on-NT.
Digital must feel isolated--especially when you consider that Microsoft's Alpha support appears to be wavering. Just a few weeks back, Redmond announced a big alliance with Hewlett-Packard. It sounded suspiciously like Digital's arrangement with Microsoft. And everyone knows HP has access to Merced, our next-generation processor family.
Maybe Digital wants a piece of Merced, too. Or maybe it just wants access to our new P6 bus, the pathway between the rest of the system and the Pentium Pro and Pentium. That sounds more like it. If Digital had the P6 bus, then it could make Alpha-based modules that shove right into the processor slots on Pentium II motherboards.
A faster processor competing against Pentium II for position on our own motherboards? Why in Sam Hill would we ever agree to that? We're better off tying Digital up in court for years, until Alpha--and maybe even Digital itself--is irrelevant.
Unfortunately, I'm only working here for the day. But I'll get the ball rolling by grabbing a pile of patents and filing another countersuit at the courthouse in downtown San Jose, Calif., during my lunch hour. Better take a look at those supplier contracts we've got with Digital, too.
What else do we have here? "Plaintiff Cyrix, for its complaint against defendant Intel, avers" ... la dee dah dee dah. Another patent infringement suit. I picked a good day for my imaginary job exchange, no?
Bet Cyrix also wants the P6 bus. Let's not dismiss this one out of hand, though. AMD, the second-largest PC processor supplier and Cyrix's chief rival, can't use the P6 bus. So it's trying to keep the momentum alive for Socket 7, the infrastructure for Pentium as well as AMD's K6 and the M2 from Cyrix. If I hand the P6 bus to Cyrix--the smaller and weaker of the two--that company could help me snuff out AMD.
I like it. Divide and conquer. Having a competitor on the P6 platform also might do wonders for my stature down at the Department of Justice's antitrust division. I'll just get on the blower and schedule a pow-wow with Cyrix's legal counsel.
Or maybe I'd better hop into my limo before it turns back into a pumpkin.
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