E., thread, looks like LSI is playing ball with the big boys as they are developing chip technology in the new switched fabric I/O protocol area. Your article also mentioned switched fabric. That's the protocol Intel, IBM, Dell, Sun, Compaq, HP, have agreed upon (actually, switched fabric is part of "System I/O", the new overall I/O scheme to replace PCI, at least in big servers, starting sometime in 2001). Switched Fabric is a subset, specifically the physical interconnect and hardware protocol part, of the overall hardware and software standard called System I/O.). I also like the fact that LSI is coat-tailing with Intel at the 1999 Intel Developer Forum (IDF) August 30 through September 2 at the Palm Springs Convention Center in Palm Springs, California (U.S.). Might as well hang out with the gorilla vs. the AMD monkey (that's "Gorilla Game" by Geoffrey Moore lingo, not mine).
news.com
Server dispute settled, but products
coming later
By Stephen Shankland
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
August 31, 1999, 4:40 p.m. PT
Seven newly allied computing companies announced a new server design
standard today, but the new standard will arrive many months later than the
companies had hoped.
As reported yesterday, the backing of a unified standard called System I/O heals a
rift that had pitted Intel, Dell Computer, and Sun Microsystems against IBM, HP, and
Compaq Computer. The standard, a critical part of future design of
high-performance computers, governs how components such as network cards plug
into servers and how the servers connect to each other.
The new standard itself will arrive by the end of the year, and the first systems
shipping with the new architecture will arrive in late 2001, executives said today as
they announced the new agreement.
But the companies had planned for new servers to be able to take advantage of the
design standard much sooner. The Intel camp hoped for products using its standard
to appear in products in 2000. The IBM, HP, and Compaq group hoped for its first
products to arrive in the first quarter of 2001.
"We had been targeting a slightly earlier time frame," said Intel's Tom Macdonald in
an interview today.
"Taking a little extra time is well worth it to have the best specification going
forward," added Dell's Jeff Hornung.
The late 2001 ship date is in time for Intel's McKinley chip, the second in its
upcoming 64-bit family. However, the System I/O will work in servers using less
expensive hardware as well, said IBM's Tom Bradicich.
Sun's Mark Canepa wouldn't say whether Sun plans to have its System I/O-based
designs out in 2001. "As soon as the standard is in place, we're going to race to
market like everyone else," he said.
System I/O will be governed by a steering committee that will be led by Intel and IBM
and will also include Dell, Sun, Compaq, HP, and Microsoft. Microsoft's Ed Miller
said his company had been neutral on the standards dispute. "System I/O" is a
working name only; a formal name will be chosen later.
The group's first meeting will be in October, the companies said.
The System I/O standard uses a method called a "switched fabric" to carry traffic
from server CPUs to peripherals and other servers. The method essentially puts a
miniature network inside the computer, a faster and more reliable method than the
prevailing PCI bus.
System I/O will come in three flavors at the outset, with 1, 4, or 12 wires going
through the fabric, depending on how powerful a server is being built. Those three
flavors will transfer data at 0.5 gigabytes per second, 2 GB/sec, and 6 GB/sec, the
companies said. |
