Mile,
Here's some news from the WSJ.
For subscribers: interactive.wsj.com
August 28, 1998
Professor's Idea for Speedy Chip
Could Be More Than Academic
By DEAN TAKAHASHI
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
As a young computer-science professor at the University of California at Berkeley, David Patterson championed the cause of a radical approach to designing computers and chips that simplifies their internal tasks. His concept, reduced instruction set computing, or RISC, transformed the chip industry and became a mainstay for several big computer companies.
Then Mr. Patterson was a force behind a new alternative to big, costly disk drives, dubbed RAID, or redundant arrays of inexpensive disks. RAID-based products are now commonplace.
Now the professor has another pet project; and, given his track record, Silicon Valley is paying heed. Mr. Patterson, with a handful of graduate students, is laying the groundwork for a new type of hybrid computer chip, breaking from a tradition that has shaped the balance of power among semiconductor companies. The new idea, aimed at fueling a new generation of powerful hand-held computers, also puts Mr. Patterson at odds with an old and powerful nemesis -- Intel Corp.
...
Story goes on to talk about building a processor with its memory on chip - eliminating the processor - memory interface.
Ian. |
