Strange...in this article it mentions a deal with IBM for the system 390 mainframe as well...
Refrigeration of Computer Chips Puts Speed Problems on Ice
Hiawatha Bray
582 Words
4326 Characters
11/22/97
KRTBN Knight-Ridder Tribune Business News
Copyright (C) 1997 KRTBN Knight-Ridder Tribune Business News; Source:
World Reporter (TM)
From: The Boston Globe.
LAS VEGAS--Nov. 22--The annual Comdex computer trade show is supposed
to feature cool new technology. But a South Carolina company is taking
things to a new low -- 40 below, to be exact. And Digital Equipment
Corp. thinks the firm is on to something.
* KryoTech Inc. of West Columbia, S.C., is boosting the speed of
Digital's Alpha computer chips, as well as that of the K6 processors
made by Advanced Micro Devices Inc., by adding a small but powerful
refrigeration unit to the computer.
* By chilling the chip to 40 degrees below zero, KryoTech officials say
they're able to generate a 35 to 40 percent improvement in performance.
The cooling technology is aimed at people such as engineers and graphic
artists.
* "This is for people who can't afford to wait," said KryoTech executive
vice president Robert DiGiacomo.
It's also for makers of mainframe computers looking to squeeze out
* more performance. In September, KryoTech won a contract to supply chip
chillers for the newest model of the IBM System 390 mainframe.
The idea of speeding up chips by cooling them off isn't really new. In
* fact, KryoTech was founded by former employees of Dayton, Ohio-based NCR
Corp., which experimented with the idea during the early 1990s in
cooperation with chipmaker Intel Corp.
Engineers have long known that microprocessors can be made to run
faster if they're kept cool. But it has been hard to take advantage of
this principle. It would be ruinously expensive and difficult to chill a
computer's entire motherboard -- the circuit board containing all key
electronic components. For one thing, the board would have to be sealed
from the open air to avoid corrosion.
* KryoTech developed a package that could pump coolant across a
processor chip while leaving the rest of the machine at room
temperature. The firm combines this packaging with a small, powerful
refrigeration unit.
* At Comdex, KryoTech showed off a prototype in which the refrigerator
is nestled in a separate compartment inside the computer case. Although
the refrigeration unit uses 120 watts of electricity and has its own
power cord, the machine ran almost as quietly as a standard computer.
The prototype contained a K6 processor with a rated speed of 266
* megahertz. KryoTech claimed the chilled chip now runs at 375 megahertz.
Engineers in Digital's workstation division are impressed with the
* KryoTech system. They installed it in a computer using Digital's 600
megahertz Alpha chip. According to consulting engineer Shlomo Novotny,
the cooler boosted the machine's effective speed to 800 megahertz, far
faster than the latest Pentium II computers from Intel Corp.
Novotny says that a decade ago, Digital engineers were testing
computer chips cooled to minus 250 degrees Celsius -- that's minus 418
Fahrenheit. They found that the cooling made the chips run two to three
times as fast. But keeping chips that cold was utterly impractical.
"The advantage of what we're doing now is we're using commodity
refrigeration equipment, practically off the shelf," said Novotny.
DiGiacomo said the refrigeration unit would add about $500 to the cost
of a computer -- not a lot of money to a hard-core user. Still, Ron
Locklin, Digital's vice president for workstations, is not sure the
company will begin selling ultra-cool Alphas. "We are evaluating if and
how to bring it to market," he said. "We already have the fastest
systems you can buy."
But Novotny said refrigerated microprocessors may become standard on
high-end machines because newer microchips keep running hotter and
hotter.
CT Visit The Boston Globe on the World Wide Web at
boston.com
I0607 * End of document.
and a "much needed cash infusion" of 5 million from IMG
(probably for production startup)...
SUPERCONDUCTING FIRM INVESTS IN CHIP-COOLER KRYOTECH
240 Words
2189 Characters
03/27/98
Computergram International
(COPYRIGHT 1998 Apt Data Services Ltd. (UK))
Copyright 1998 Information Access Company. All rights reserved.
* KryoTech Inc, the NCR Corp spin-off which is experimenting with
freezing chips so that they run faster, has signed a strategic alliance
with Intermagnetics General Corp, an applied superconductor and
refrigeration specialist from Latham, New York. Intermagnetics, which
produces both low temperature and high temperature superconducting
* magnets, wire and cable, has purchased shares and options in KryoTech
amounting to 22% of its outstanding equity, for $5m in cash. It also
* granted KryoTech exclusive rights to use Intermagnetics' cooling
technology as in relates to computer chip cooling, an agreement that
* lasts until 2005. The deal gives KryoTech a needed short-term cash
infusion, and access to the Intermagnetics technology and that of its
Cryogenics Inc and Polycold Systems Inc subsidiaries. Privately- held
* KryoTech has been developing its chip cooling technology since it was
formed in 1996 by a group of NCR Corp executives and engineers, but the
technology has yet to see any widespread usage. It claims to be able to
increase the performance of standard computer chips by 30 to 35%, by
cooling the parts down to minus 40 degrees Celsius. In February,
* KryoTech demonstrated a thermally accelerated 767MHz Alpha workstation
with Digital Equipment Corp at Microsoft Cor p's Windows NT Wizard
Symposium. And earlier this month, the company previewed its Cool K6 3D
workstation with Advanced Micro Devices Inc at the Cebit show in
Hanover, Germany. It has now cranked up the K6 to a clock rate of 400MHz.
I0607 * End of document. |
