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Technology Stocks : RAMBUS (Nasdaq: RMBS) - THE EAGLE -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Glenn Norman who wrote (1094)	2/17/2000 11:15:00 PM
From: Glenn Norman	Respond to of 2039

Yo_BU$$ER$................. RE:Link posted on "Penguin" thread by Kiriwuth Path quote.bloomberg.com This is a GREAT POST by Kiriwuth Path and should be read by ALL "BU$$ER$"!! Here are some snips: [snip]The stakes for Sony couldn't be higher. The world's second largest consumer electronics company is betting PlayStation 2 will not only replace the original console as its most profitable product, but also become the central component of a plan to link its walkmans and televisions to music, movies and other online services it owns and distributes over the Internet.[snip] [snip]The heart of the machine is a 128-bit microchip dubbed the 'emotion engine', which Sony jointly developed for the last 4 years with Toshiba Corp., Japan's second-largest chip maker, and which processes graphics three times faster than anything made by Intel Corp., the world's biggest chipmaker.[snip] [snip]Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. said the PlayStation.com Web site crashed last night on a flood of demand for the new console, the moment customers got their first chance to place orders. The site crashed at midnight and was down for two hours as consumers rushed to place orders for the video-game console two weeks before it goes on sale. ''The site is still running slowly at the moment,'' said Benjamen Gurnsey, a Sony Computer Entertainment spokesman. ''Demand was 30 times more than we expected.''[snip] [snip]The company started selling PlayStation in Japan in December 1994, and by December 1999 it sold nearly 72 million consoles, more than any other video game company, and 592 million games. In the year ended March 1999, the PlayStation contributed nearly 40 percent of Sony's operating profit, while it made up 11 percent of revenue, according to Masashi Kubota, an analyst at ING Barings Securities Japan Ltd.[snip] [snip]If all goes to plan, Sony aims to sell 1 million consoles on March 4-5 and 500,000 a month thereafter.[snip] [snip]PlayStation 2 is also the centerpiece of a strategy Sony announced in March 1999 to focus on making products which can be linked to each other and the Internet. The company's shares more than tripled since the announcement.[snip] [snip]PlayStation 2's own success may be the biggest threat to sales should demand for the machine exceed the supply of chips and other components. ''The next 3-6 months are key,'' said Skandia Asset Management's Mak. ''We need to see how quickly they can ramp up production and how quickly the game software manufacturers release new titles.''[snip] Thanks, Kiriwuth Path, for the great find - Salude Norman$

To: Glenn Norman who wrote (1094)	2/17/2000 11:33:00 PM
From: Glenn Norman	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 2039

Yo_BU$$ER$..................... RE:This news could be really bad for the SDRAM guys and make supplies of RAMBU$ RDRAM even tighter! dailynews.yahoo.com Thursday February 17 10:01 PM EST Intel confirms problem with chip sets By Ken Popovich, PC Week Intel Corp. has disclosed a problem involving its 820 and 840 chip sets that has spurred the company to scrap plans for three motherboards it had on its server road map. But while an Intel representative stressed that the problem would likely affect only a few users, some analysts said the trouble may indicate a flaw in a crucial component used to configure the boards with SDRAM. The trouble arose when Intel's 820 and 840 chip sets, which were designed to take advantage of speedier Rambus memory, RDRAM, were configured to work with SDRAM. According to Intel, memory errors may result from the combined use of the memory-repeater hub (known as MRH-S), which is used to translate native RDRAM support to SDRAM, and ECC (error correction coding). Intel said it believes few customers will be affected since most 820 and 840 chip set customers using ECC, commonly in workstation and servers, are likely to have gone with Rambus memory for greater performance. However, customers seeking a lower-cost server or workstation solution may have elected to go with less-expensive SDRAM over RDRAM in order to get the highest amount of memory for their money. "We are informing vendors that certain server platforms using the memory repeater hub as well as the error correction coding have been experiencing memory issues or errors," said Dan Francisco, an Intel spokesman. How big a problem? If the problem is actually tied to just the memory-translation hub, it could spell big trouble for Intel, said Mike Feibus, principal analyst at Mercury Research in Scottsdale, Ariz. "We're predicting that more than half of the 840 chip sets that will ship this quarter will be configured with SDRAM," Feibus said. "So if there's trouble with the memory translator, that could pose major problems for Intel." A spokesman for Dell Computer Corp. said the company has avoided packaging SDRAM with 820 and 840 chip sets after it became aware of the problem a couple of weeks ago. A representative at Compaq Computer Corp., which sells workstations with SDRAM, said the company has been made aware of the problem and is working with Intel to resolve it. Officials at Hewlett-Packard Co., which also sells systems packaging SDRAM with the 820 and 840 chip sets, were not immediately available for comment. Industry analyst Kevin Knox said that, while he was unaware of the problem, he's not surprised. "Anytime you put a translator in there [i.e., the memory translator hub], you're asking for trouble," he said. "The 820 and 840 chip sets were not designed for SDRAM," Knox said. "So trying to make them work with SDRAM posed an obvious risk of introducing errors." Pruning the trees The problems involving the memory translator and error correction coding came to light after Intel informed vendors that it was scrapping plans for three chip sets targeted for use in servers. The chip sets, known by the code names Pine, Hemlock and Willow, were developed based on the 820 and 840 chip set designs. Intel had planned to design the boards to accommodate dual processors configured with SDRAM. "We are working to resolve the issue and expect to fix it in the next 'stepping' of the parts," Francisco said. The 820 chip set's introduction was initially delayed last fall due to a platform integration issue involving Rambus. The problem was addressed by altering the motherboard from its original three-slot RIMM configuration to a two-slot RIMM configuration. See this story in context on ZDNN's Page One Section. Should be a good day tomorrow - Norman$