December 07, 1998, Issue: 1138
Section: News
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Intel simplifies transition to new MPUs, chipsets
Mark Hachman and Sandy Chen
Intel Corp. has backed up its pledge to simplify its chipset schedule while speed-ing product introductions through improvements in manufacturing, according to the company's customers.
Intel's "transition management" program is designed to reduce the testing and other qualifications necessary to convert to a new product, especially a chipset. That strategy, as well as a hurried pace of processor introductions, was spelled out in confidential Intel product roadmaps obtained by EBN.
In effect, Intel's customers are asking the company to do more with less. For business PCs, Intel now must produce chipsets that support a larger number of available processors, without sacrificing any features. At the same time, it must also anticipate the needs of consumers, who have traditional-ly required the latest technology almost before it is produced.
Intel first tipped off analysts that it was rewriting its chipset roadmap at its November analysts meeting in San Francisco. "There was one thing that didn't resonate so well, and that was how fast we move things in terms of the architecture of the platform," said Paul Otellini, executive vice president and general manager of Intel's Architecture Business Group, at last month's meeting.
"Many of the [changes] require a qualification cycle at an end-user site, and the qualification cycles are lengthy and expensive, and the IT departments would rather not deal with them," Otellini added.
In response, Intel has lengthened the time between the introductions of chipsets for business PCs from three to six months, and now to 18 months, said Tim Teckman, director of marketing for performance desktops at Intel in Hillsboro, Ore.
For example, the first mainstream chipset for the Pentium II, the 440FX, began shipping in volume in May 1997 and was superseded by the 440LX just four months later.
The successor to the 440LX, known as the 440BX, was rolled out last April and should last into 2000, according to Intel's latest roadmap; that's a life span of more than 20 months. The 440BX is expected to underwrite a range of microprocessors, from the 350-MHz to the 450-MHz Pentium II, as well as the 450- and 500-MHz Katmai processors.
The 440BX gradually will be replaced by the Intel 820 chipset-or Camino-still scheduled for introduction in June 1999. However, sources believe there may be two versions of the Camino, one each for 100- and 133-MHz system buses. Also in June, the low-cost Basic PC will include the Intel 810 chipset-or Whitney-which connects to Intel's 370-pin Celeron chip, Intel's customers said.
"Our goal is one major transition a year, with minor upgrades as the technology and business solutions dictate," Teckman said in an interview with EBN last week. But he acknowledged that anticipating the correct features customers will require over the life of the chipset, as well as managing the more rapid transitions in consumer space, will be a challenge.
In addition to extending the life of its chipsets, Intel has pledged to increase the flow of information to its customers, who have been occasionally surprised by unexpected features, Teckman said.
Meanwhile, the company must satisfy designers of consumer PCs, who want the latest technology yesterday. "For the most part, consumers simply want faster clock rates on their processors," said Nathan Brookwood, an analyst at Insight 64, Saratoga, Calif. "Every so often that will require a platform change-[for example], the transition to Rambus [DRAM]."
Brookwood said he expects Intel to simplify its consumer chipset roadmap as well, but with continued innovation and integration in the Basic PC, which the confidential documents define as costing less than $1,100.
While Intel has pared down its chipset roadmap, the company has also made manufacturing improvements. In wafer starts per week, Intel plans to commit more capacity to the 0.18-micron equipment currently in development than it has to the 0.25- and 0.35-micron processes now in production, said Sunlin Chou, vice president and general manager of Intel's Technology and Manufacturing Group, at last month's analysts meeting.
By stepping up its manufacturing-process development, Intel will cut expenses by amortizing its costs across a greater number of dice per wafer. The process acceleration will also advance several CPU-upgrade introduction dates by a quarter.
New 333- and 366-MHz Dixon mobile chips, which are sold under the Celeron brand name, will be released in 1999's second and third quarters, respectively, and will include 128 Kbytes of on-chip cache. Mobile Coppermine chips, at 400-, 500-, and "500+"-MHz speeds, will be available in September 1999, according to the roadmap.
On the desktop, a 366-MHz Celeron will be launched Jan. 6, a quarter earlier than first projected, while 400- and 433-MHz Celeron roll-outs will be moved to the first and second quarters, respectively. A 600-MHz Coppermine chip has also been moved up three months, to late in the third quarter.
Additionally, Intel has added a 533-MHz speed grade to its Katmai desktop lineup, which is slated for a second-quarter introduction. In the workstation arena, Intel has added a 550-MHz chip to its Tanner family and a 667-MHz device to its Cascades processor line, both of which will be introduced in the second half of 1999.
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