V Here you go
The memory is Ramtron which is a competitor of rambus. Intel is supporting rambus at
the moment. Ramtron is a faster memory than rambus and is being designed into DEC
Alpha 500Mhz workstations. ramtron also has the discovery patents for FRAM
(ferrite "core" memory on a chip) which looks as a strong possibility for the memory on
smart cards for ATM and transportation fare cards.
I'm currious as CPQ could use ramtron to beat intel to the 100MHz mother board.
ramtron already supports the memory transfer rate that intel hopes to achieve with
rambus. workstations would be the first use of ramtron or tandem might use it for a
mainframe.
---------
FROM A POST ON THE RAMTRON THREAD
To: Dan Meckenstock (3922 )
From: Logan Nourse
Sep 17 1997 10:03PM EST
Reply #3925 of 3927
ESDRAM, Via Technologies, and Compaq
OK, Dan, if you have the last cheap shares, I'll post a favorable tidbit. Weeks or
months ago, someone asked if Compaq, which does not appreciate the INTC empire,
might like to use ESDRAM. Also, on the RMBS thread, Elmer guessed that Triton
(Intel) has nearly all the market for chipsets, so support from an unknown like Via
Tech should be counted as trivial. I decided to research the point.
First, Via Tech has moved up to number two in market share worldwide, according to
Dataquest -- see:
techweb.com
which gives 52% to Triton and 14% to Via Tech, a private company on Taiwan. The
Via website is
via.com.tw
and you can download a .pdf file of Via Connections, a newletter. One finds that Via
has signed up Compaq! (V. 2, #2, page 6)
Now, Via Tech has a local office in Fremont, at 1-510-683-3300, so I called Dean
Hays and asked about the situation. He has worked with Enhanced Memory (RMTR's
sub) and remarks that ESDRAM support will be available in the next version of Via's
chipsets, about the end of the year. And, if people check the Via website at that time,
they can learn which motherboards will use the new chips, and thus ESDRAM.
Compaq has about 12% of the PC market, according to a recent Fortune article that
shows Dell and Compaq moving up at high rates.
I conclude that the Via connection is potentially larger than the announced DEC-Alpha
market, since ESDRAM will be available in a common PC brand, well before the
RDRAM or SLDRAM competition. However, ESDRAM will have to compete with
DDR SDRAM, or whatever Via includes. They will eventually support whatever the
market wants.
I suggest that Mike Gumport's estimate of 60% higher sales, or the Ramtron guess of a
double, is *very* conservative. As a homework problem, what is 1% of the main
memory market nowadays?
Regards, Logan
-----------------
More news about a possible link with Ramtron and a high speed mother board.
Elsewhere, Digital Equipment Corp-DEC-40 15/16-2 and VLSI Technology-VLSI-
36 5/8-NR have already announced support for Ramtron's EDRAM (Enhanced
DRAM). Look for a major ad campaign to start 10/13/97. We believe
Japanese,Taiwanese and Korean companies persuaded the memory standards board
to spend extra time recently considering an EDRAM standard. It has been confirmed
that Via (a private Taiwanese chipset maker) is providing support for Ramtron's
upcoming 16Mbit ESDRAM. According to internet chatter, Via has moved up to #2 in
the chipset market at 14% market share. (Intel's-INTC-$96 3/8-1 Triton is the largest
with 52% market share.) Further, according to the same source, Via has been working
with Compaq (CPQ-78 1/4-2.) |
