Yousef,
Have you read up on the technical aspects of the 21264 Alpha chip?
Below is an excerpt from an article where cpq asserts Alpha is two years ahead of Merced. Do you think Alpha will be a significant threat to Merced or Xeon?
My own view is that until MSFT releases a 64bit operating system (which will not be until after NT 5.0), the 64bit chips will remain the domain of only the high end applications, and won't be a significant challenge to Intel's Xeon which will be the mass market servers.
I would appreciate your comments. Dale
THe full article is from Intel Reply #58476
"Capacity is not an issue for Alpha . . . We have a big fab in Kiheung (Korea)" dedicated solely to Alpha, Young Joon (Y.J.) Kim, the Alpha Processor business director, said. Mr. Kim said that "in the next couple of months" Samsung would both reach volume in a 0.25-micron process and begin selling the next generation 21264, which is "clearly at least two years ahead (of Merced)." When the software development years are included, he said, "it's not just two years (ahead), it's seven." Mr. Lee said, "For Intel, it's OK that they are a couple of years behind (with a 64-bit microprocessor), for us, if we are behind, we are dead." He added that "Intel cannot match our performance." |
