Any ideas as to what impact the next generation 64-bit processors will have on Sunw's UltraSparc line of processors? It appears that Compaq will forge ahead with their next generation Alpha design, while Intel will focus on their Merced processor.
Look for more announcements from Intel on their plans in October..."That will likely happen in October, at the Microprocessor Forum in San Jose, Calif., EE Times has learned. There, Stephen Smith, vice president of the company's microprocessor products group, is slated to talk about the "features and futures" of the so-called IA-64 architecture on which Merced is based..."
Intel, Compaq gird for 64-bit battle
EE-Times; Posted: 11:45 p.m., EDT, 7/31/98
eet.com
"The recent HP PA-RISC and Sun UltraSparc processors have non-trapping load instructions that enable limited speculated execution," Hwu said. "In addition, recent PA-RISC, UltraSparc, Pentium II and MIPS R10000 processors all have very limited support for predicated execution. However, this limited support doesn't result in significant performance advantages because it's mostly peephole optimizations for very limited code constructs."
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It will be interesting to see what both Sunw and Compaq decide with the next generation processors. SUNW has stated that they will "eventually" port SOLARIS to the Merced platform. Will the new Compaq Alpha design be a significant "new" technology that the industry will buy into? If Compaq is pushing it.... it is one to keep watch on.
EKS |
