By Lisa DiCarlo and John G. Spooner, PC Week Online
March 1, 1999 9:00 AM ET
Barring further delays, Intel Corp. is on track to launch
its first 64-bit chip, Merced, in mid-2000.
Next month, Intel will host a software developers event at
which the company will deliver to ISVs Merced-based
systems for software development, said Albert Yu,
senior vice president and general manager of Intel's
Microprocessor Products Group at the company's Intel
Developers Forum here last week. Until now, ISVs and
OEMs have been working with hard-copy documentation
and IA-64 simulators.
The delivery of software development systems is as
close as any partner has come thus far to an
IA-64-based system. The Santa Clara, Calif., chip maker
plans to deliver Merced samples to a wider OEM
audience in the middle of this year.
Last week, Intel booted six of the eight supporting
operating systems on a Merced simulator. These include
the 64-bit versions of Windows NT, Solaris, HP-UX, Irix,
Novell Inc.'s Modesto and the SCO/IBM operating
system code-named Monterey.
Compaq Computer Corp.'s Unix and Linux, which will
also be ported to IA-64, were the exceptions. Compaq
Unix, recently renamed Tru64, is scheduled to boot by
the end of this month.
Intel plans to release its next-generation IA-64 chip,
McKinley, in the second half of 2001.
Software written for Merced will be forward-compatible
with McKinley, which will probably be the more enticing
option for corporate buyers because Intel has said its
performance will be greater than Merced's.
As previously disclosed, Intel is working on IA-64
processors, code-named Madison and Deerfield, that will
be geared more toward performance-oriented desktops.
At the forum, Intel formally disclosed the name of its first
64-bit chip set, the 460GX. It will support a four-way
configuration, the forthcoming Accelerated Graphics Port
Pro graphics bus, 64-bit PCI, integrated support for PCI
Hot Plug and other Intel server management
specifications.
As for its 32-bit Pentium lines, Intel plans to phase out
the Pentium II in favor of its recently announced Pentium
III.
The company said it will continue to produce Pentium IIs
as long as there is demand from OEMs for the chip.
Intel plans to deliver another 32-bit chip, code-named
Foster, in the same time frame as Merced
Intel plans to deliver only two more Pentium II
chips--mobile 400MHz and 433MHz processors
manufactured using Intel's new 0.18-micron-process
technology. The chips are expected to ship in mid-1999.
Intel has plans to transition to a mobile Pentium III,
starting with a 500MHz chip in the second half of the
year.
By the end of the year, Intel hopes to close the
performance gap between desktop and notebook PCs
with a new technology, code-named Geyserville.
The technology, when it becomes available on mobile
Pentium III processors late this year, will enable fast
processors to get decent battery life. It will allow a chip
to run at 600MHz or faster when the notebook is plugged
in but to automatically power down to 500MHz while it is
running on a battery, said Robert Jecman, vice president
and general manager of Intel's mobile and handheld
products group.
Geyserville works by scaling back the chip's frequency
and its voltage at the same time.
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