EE Times, Nov. 17, Not entirely new news:
Comdex sees fragmented PC
By Rick Boyd-Merritt
Las Vegas - There are portentous questions in the air as Comdex/Fall opens its doors here this week. Just how far can the PC's architecture be stretched? How will engineers handle the very different design challenges presented by the PC platform's expansion into low-cost consumer systems, "superportables" and workstations, among others?
Make no mistake about it, the fragmentation of the PC is "very real and will continue," said Dan Russell, director of platform marketing at Intel Corp. Cases in point:
- Some engineers designing home computers say they are hungry for more integrated silicon and others are keeping an eye on alternative operating systems.
- A new class of small notebooks will emerge at Comdex that do not rely on X86 processors.
- At the high end, PC workstation makers say they are simply looking for ways to handle the power and thermal issues that Intel's upcoming processors will generate.
"Still," said Russell, "some technologies, like power management, will run across all these systems."
Of all the emerging PC markets, the low-cost consumer segment seems to be where the bulk of the action is. Some consultants estimate that sub-$1,000 consumer desktops will account for as much as 40 percent of retail PC sales this year. In this market the call has been for integrated silicon.
Responding to that need, Micron Electronics Inc. (Nampa, Idaho) is partnering with semiconductor companies, whose names it won't disclose, to roll out its Stiletto chip set. The logic uses a Uniform Memory Access architecture similar to the Plato chip set from S3 Corp. It integrates audio, video, modem, Universal Serial Bus and a south bridge into a fairly small single device, said Dean Klein, chief technology officer at the PC maker. "This chip includes a memory port, CPU interface and several other ports to form what is essentially a three-chip PC," said Klein. "That's consumerizing the PC."
The device will support "Socket 7" processors and be available to third parties, though Klein would not reveal production details. |
