Joe, >>>" Read the post
after your post to me about something about symbio's is embedded the technology
in Intel's new chip. I think this is what my friend is talking about."
That would be me. What I pointed out in my post was not that Symbios had embedded their technology in Intel's chip. It was that Intel, in having a choice of whether to use Adaptec's, or Symbios' SCSI controller boards on their new motherboard, which is the key part of their new server, chose Symbios. Adaptec has long been the leader in SCSI technology, so I thought this was a clear "upset" to Adaptec, that they lost out to Symbios in such an important application. Knee-jerk reaction was that I'd see Adaptec there, not Symbios.
Starting on that education you ask for, the motherboard, aka MOBO, is the circuit board that the CPU chip, chipset (kind of an extension of the CPU chip), different types of memory, and different types of I/O control boards get plugged into. These are the basic functions of a computer...CPU, memory and I/O (input/output). So, the MOBO is the "heart" of the computer system because it holds the most basic functions. These things that plug into the MOBO are either chips or small circuit boards with chips on them. Like the CPU chip, they are also all silicon and made of the same integrated circuit technology that the CPU is made of (CMOS). This is where some of the fear about the future of the companies that make these non-CPU chip functions that go on the MOBO comes in. Sometime in the future, when Intel can get a lot more transistors onto one chip than they can today, what's to stop them from pulling in all that other MOBO logic and stuff onto one chip? Nothing. Then, the CPU, chipset, memory and I/O (control and datapath) would consist of only one chip.
What are the prospects of this happening any time soon? Not too soon. However, it will happen in phases, where some parts get pulled in sooner than others. The main memory, consisting of 16-32-64-128 megabytes and forever continuing to grow, is not a good candidate to pull in. Just too many transistors, and a poor use of valuable CPU chip real estate. The chipset? Sure, why not. The I/O control and datapath? Also, sure, why not. These are relatively small, not too dense, and could easily disappear into a big Intel chip. Unfortunately for this thread, and if you believe this, Adaptec (and Symbios and a bunch of other small to medium size companies) live from I/O hardware sales.
Sorry about the Charles Darwin survival of the fittest analogy, but it happens everywhere on the planet, including in computers. Also, you asked.
Tony |
