Here is the announcement from Micron that spooked everyone. It's not so much that SLDRAM is behind, it's just that the war is over. The first mainstream products to use RAMBUS for main memory from Intel will be out early next year. Nothing yet on the drawing board from Intel using SLDRAM.
Micron Technology, Inc., Announces Shipments Of First 64 Meg SLDRAM Samples
BOISE, Idaho--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 14, 1998--Micron Technology, Inc., announces shipments of the industry's first 64 Meg SLDRAM samples.
The 400 MHz, 2.5V SLDRAM samples, manufactured using 0.25m process technology, have been delivered to customers for engineering evaluation. Micron's SLDRAM product line includes the 4M x 16 and 4M x 18 organizations offered in the 64-pin Horizontal Surface Mount (HSMP) and the JEDEC standard 64-pin Vertical Surface Mount (VSMP).
Most leading memory chip manufacturers have endorsed SLDRAM technology. SLDRAM, Inc. and industry supporters believe SLDRAM is both a cost-effective and practical high-performance DRAM solution for both current and future designs. SLDRAM can provide data transfer rates of 1.6 gigabytes per second in desktop PCs and 6.4 gigabytes per second for high performance servers.
''SLDRAM is a cost effective solution for the next generation requirements of many systems,'' said Jeff Mailloux, Micron Technology, Inc.'s DRAM Marketing Manager. ''Our customers have made it clear that they want to be able to choose the memory that best meets the cost versus performance requirements of their applications, and we are committed to offering them a choice in memory technologies.''
Micron has delivered engineering samples to major computer OEMs and SLDRAM supporters, including Compaq, Hewlett Packard, IBM and Micron Electronics, Inc. for testing and evaluation. This helps to accomplish an important milestone in the SLDRAM roadmap and allows system development to proceed on schedule.
Leading Computer OEM Comments
''Compaq has been actively involved with SLDRAM, Inc. in the definition and specification of this emerging industry standard DRAM,'' said Karl Walker, Vice President, Enterprise Computing Group, Compaq Computer Corporation. ''Compaq Computer is evaluating the SLDRAM samples and is considering using SLDRAMs in our leading edge products. Compaq is committed to open industry standards and engineering excellence.''
''HP was involved in the early definition of SDRAM, DDR SDRAM, and SLDRAM,'' said Henry Li, Manager, Memory Technology Center, Hewlett Packard Procurement. ''We believe open standards will continue to play an important role in the DRAM industry, and an evaluation of early samples of new technology is an important step in standards development. We are pleased to see SLDRAM among the technologies becoming available for evaluation.''
''IBM fully supports industry efforts to define and standardize new cost-performance memory technologies,'' said Mike Rubino, Manager of Memory Technology and Qualification, IBM Global Procurement. ''We are encouraged by the progress represented by the delivery of these SLDRAM samples by Micron. We welcome the opportunity to participate in the evaluation of these samples to ensure that this momentum is maintained.''
''We are pleased to be evaluating this new technology. As you may know, memory bandwidth is a limiting factor in many system designs today, with high speed PCI buses, AGP and processors all demanding access to this critical resource,'' stated Dean Klein, Micron Electronics' Executive Vice President of Product Development and Chief Technical Officer. ''SLDRAM breaks this bottleneck wide open and allows tremendous advances in system performance, while offering reduced cost at the same time.''
Samples of the 4M x 16 (MT49V4M16V-400) and 4M x 18 (MT49V4M18V-400) SLDRAMs are being shipped for testing and evaluation. For more information contact Micron Technology's Marketing Department at 208/368-3900. To access datasheets and photos of the 64 Meg SLDRAM, go to Micron's website at www.micron.com/mti/msp/html/sldramprod.html.
About The Technology
SLDRAM, which stands for Synchronous Link Dynamic Random Access Memory, is particularly suited for high-end personal computers, servers, workstations and consumer electronics. It provides high-performance memory solutions for microprocessors by enabling bus data processing rates of 400-800 megahertz. SLDRAM can provide data transfer rates of 6.4 gigabytes per second for high performance servers.
SLDRAM serves the requirements of all major DRAM applications. It is designed for computer main memory in desktop, mobile and high-end servers and workstations. SLDRAM offers high sustainable bandwidth, low latency, low power, user upgradeability and support for large memory configurations.
For video, graphics, and telecommunications applications SLDRAM provides multiple independent banks, fast read/write bus turn-arounds, and the capability for small fully pipelined bursts.
About SLDRAM, Inc.
SLDRAM, Inc. (formerly the SLDRAM Consortium) is an open, non-profit corporation with the objectives of cooperatively developing an open high performance DRAM specification with the largest memory capacity at the lowest possible cost. SLDRAM, Inc. believes this can be achieved by optimizing the physical environment and the design to minimize manufacturing cost and by ensuring that the resulting devices can best serve high-volume markets though high-volume manufacturing thus achieving the greatest economies of scale. SLDRAM supporting companies include eighteen DRAM suppliers. SLDRAM supporters include: Apple Computer, Fujitsu Ltd., Hewlett Packard Company, Hitachi Ltd., Hyundai Electronic Industries Co., Ltd., IBM Microelectronics, IBM World Procurement, LG Semicon Co., Ltd., Matsushita Electric Co., Micron Technology, Inc., Mitsubishi Electric Corp., MOSAID Technologies, Mosel-Vitelic, Motorola, NEC Corp., Nippon Steel Corp., Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd., Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Inc., Siemens, Texas Instruments, Inc., Toshiba Corp., Vanguard International Semiconductor, and VLSI Technology. |
