Forget INTC , IBM's PowerPC confirms what counts is "how you use it"
CPU MZ speed is vital for INTC in its struggle against AMD . Their chip architecture is comparable confining their battle to CPU specs .
IBM and AAPL offer PowerPC "systems" which make CPU MZ immaterial when combined with efficient design circuitry and OS optimization .
Look at AIM (AAPL-IBM-MOT) partner IBM's 64-bit PowerPCs , who are real and running today . Doesn't Ole Blue hold the server speed record using MPU PowerPC 604e ?
Ready to parse ? Here are IBM's internal and external (AIM) 64-bit shipment plans in industry standard double-talk to assure confusion:
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" IBM will be shipping a 450-MHz version of its 64-bit PowerPC processor for its server line including RS/6000s and AS/400s by the end of the fourth quarter.
The company also plans to release its S/390 mainframe products and 550-MHz version in 2000.
Additionally, IBM will be making a desktop version of the chip with a maximum performance of 480 MHz, to be followed by a 580-MHz version.
... (announced) at the IEEE Solid States Circuit Conference (ISSCC) in San Francisco last week, in conjunction with the announcement of a major technology breakthrough by IBM called Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI).
... presented at the ISSCC, IBM's research division showed that either performance can be increased or power usage can be reduced by changing to different materials and production methods while maintaining an existing chip design.
This year, IBM will change the aluminum interconnects on the chip to copper while allowing the basic building block of the chip to remain the same.
This will let the same chip incorporate 34 million transistors, instead of 12 million. In 2000, IBM will combine copper with SOI.
...IBM already uses copper in its 32-bit processors found in Apple's products. The 32-bit processors will follow the same road map and use SOI in 2000.
Also at the conference, Motorola researchers presented a technical paper that announced the future incorporation of copper into the company's PowerPC chips.
Until 1998, Motorola and IBM were jointly developing PowerPC chips for Apple.
But the relationship fell apart, according to an IBM representative, and the companies will be separately developing chips for Apple Macintosh products. "
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infoworld.com
Hence AAPL benefits "this year" from partner IBM's "copper" experience tripling transistors from 12mln to 34mnl and speed improvements from SOI next year "at little cost" . IBM has a 32 and 64-bit roadmap.
Further , using both IBM and MOT PowerPCs , AAPL is free to add its design circuitry and optimize its OS to offer more powerful "Macintosh" solutions as needed .
Jim K. |
