Skeeter,
There are a couple of other fallacies in some of your statements. The first is with respect to why no one has announced any RDRAM based systems yet. When you work with Intel, you can't pre-announce any specific products before Intel announces their part. Have you seen any announcements of specific products using the Coppermine or Geyserville processors? No, because the system companies are not allowed to preannounce. Do you think that that means that no Coppermine and Geyserville systems will be built? And you won't hear about any RDRAM-based systems until Intel formally announces that Camino is shipping. We do, however, have statements of support for the technology, which is all you ever see for any Intel technology prior to its release:
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Compaq, Dell to use Direct RDRAM in '99 PCs.
(Rambus DRAM) (Company Business and Marketing)
Electronic Buyers' News, June 22, 1998 n1114 p3(1)
Author
MacLellan, Andrew
Full Text
Silicon Valley -- Two leading computer makers have agreed to incorporate Direct Rambus DRAM in their upcoming platforms, lending momentum to developer Rambus Inc.'s plan to populate the PC with its high-speed memory interface.
Compaq Computer Corp. and Dell Computer Corp. have each confirmed they will include the Rambus design in their systems, which observers expect to hit the market shortly after Direct RDRAM makes its debut in 1999. The chips will yield 800-MHz clock speeds and deliver a total bandwidth of 1.6 Gbytes/s, according to Rambus, Mountain View, Calif.
Compaq and Dell did not indicate which PC models will be the first to adopt the Rambus interface. Though neither company could be reached for comment, they were apparently swayed by the systems-level approach taken by Rambus and design partner Intel Corp., and by the assurance of industrywide parts compatibility.
Dell is supporting Direct RDRAM "because memory compatibility is a critical customer issue that Rambus and Intel are addressing," said Jay Bell, vice president and senior fellow at Dell, in a statement. "The decision to make Direct RDRAMs compatible by design gives us and aftermarket customers the ability to swap memory modules from different manufacturers without problems."
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HP Licenses Rambus Interface.
Business Wire, Feb 2, 1999 p0225
Full Text
PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 2, 1999--Hewlett-Packard Company and Rambus Inc. today announced that HP has licensed Rambus interface technology and intends to offer Rambus memory subsystems to a variety of HP system divisions.
HP provides a broad range of computer systems, peripheral systems and instrumentation products.
...
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OEMs turning to Taiwan for DRAM supply.
(Industry Trend or Event)
Electronic Buyers' News, May 17, 1999 p52(1)
Full Text
For many years, Compaq, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, and other major foreign PC OEMs have been buying systems, subassemblies, and components in the PC-clone capital of the world-Taiwan.
This year, however, foreign OEMs will begin procuring DRAMs in Taiwan. What's surprising about this is that these OEMs have long avoided buying the memory chips from Taiwan because local companies were too far behind the technology curve. But the situation has changed.
"Taiwan could give us some new [procurement] opportunities in terms of next-generation memories," said Greg Petsch, senior vice president of manufacturing for Compaq Computer Corp., in a recent interview. Houston-based Compaq is looking at procuring DRAMs-both SDRAM and Direct Rambus DRAM devices-from several Taiwanese suppliers, he said.
...
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Rambus: to be or not to be is IBM's question.
Electronics Weekly, June 9, 1999 i1913 p8(1)
Author Manners, David
Summary
IBM has announced on Jun 3, 1999, that it will both manufacture and utilize Rambus technology in its computer products. The company is reacting to rumors that came out on Jun 2, 1999, regarding its alleged decision to sell its Rambus interests to a Taiwanese buyer, a development that was welcomed by a number of players in the industry. IBM's decision to proceed with the use of Rambus as opposed to a rumored shift to either double data rate (DDR) or PC133 synchronous technologies is seen as another victory for Intel.
Full Text
Day one: IBM rumoured to be pulling everything out of Rambus and had a buyer for its Rambus interests; Day two: IBM denies rumours and will make and use Rambus
There's been many a Hoo-Ha over Rambus, but last week's was the oddest.
On Wednesday it was unequivocably reported that IBM would neither use nor make Rambus. On Thursday IBM said it would both make and use Rambus.
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So that take's care of that question. The next post will cover the Dell not having to commit any $ fallacy.
Dave
p.s. If Dell is really going to take 2/3's of the RDRAM production in Q4, and assuming that Sony takes a significant chunk of the rest, it actually wouldn't surprise me if Compaq, HP, and IBM didn't announce any RDRAM-based systems immediately. Not until they can actual deliver them. |
