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Technology Stocks : Rambus (RMBS) - Eagle or Penguin -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jeff Jordan who wrote (3245)	3/7/1998 7:21:00 PM
From: Sam P.	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 93625

Jeff and thread,http://techweb.cmp.com/ebn/942/ EBN Home Page EBN News This Week Daily News Digest EBN Resources Tech Center Business Center Purchasing Center Distribution Center Columnists Sourcing Directory Interactive Message Center Electronics Bookstore Feedback Salary Calculator Instant Poll EBN Online Info What's New Online Search/Archives Subscribe About EBN/Media Kit The EBN Editors EBN: Your Home Page Click Here Click Here ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Network Links Network News Technology Business & Finance Products Info Centers New User Summary Career Center EE Design Center Reference Center E-Search Center News Center Design Resources App Notes Hot ICs/Data Sheets IC Selector EDA Tools Network Publications EE Times Electronic Buyers' News Semiconductor Business News Product File ÿEBN's Daily News Digest DRAM Makers Divided Over Future Memory Technologies (6:30 p.m. EST, 3/6/98) By Andrew MacLellan Just months away from the first introductions of Direct Rambus DRAM, chip vendors are showing a surprising lack of consensus as to which memory technology will lead the market in 1999. Despite Intel Corp.'s full-court press to drive RDRAM onto the desktop PC, competing technologies such as double-data-rate (DDR) DRAM and SLDRAM remain in the production plans of many IC companies and are viewed as potential contenders in next year's desktop and server markets. By the end of this year, PC100 SDRAM, which supports Intel's 100-MHz system bus, is expected to account for the majority of bits shipped. But DRAM suppliers and their OEM customers are still weighing which new architecture will best narrow the growing gulf between memory and processor performance -- a gap that should only increase with Intel's 1999 rollout of the 64-Mbit Merced RISC processor. The DRAM industry is reluctant to give RDRAM its exclusive endorsement because access to Rambus technology is contingent upon a licensing fee and royalty agreement, while both DDR and SLDRAM are open architectures. Other concerns include Rambus' questionable ability to scale to higher-performance systems and its initial cost per die. Samsung Semiconductor Inc. and Hitachi Semiconductor (America) Inc., for example, are preparing to launch DDR parts during the middle of this year. The companies will separately introduce a Direct Rambus device this year and will let their PC customers choose between them. However, given the particular strengths of each architecture, neither DDR nor Rambus appears headed for a clean sweep, according to Brett Etter, Hitachi's DRAM product marketing manager. Etter said Rambus' 32-device-per-channel limitation will restrict systems using 64-Mbit-generation chips to a maximum capacity of 256 Mbytes, which is too small to service high-end PCs, workstations, and servers. "We'll make Rambus and DDR parts, but there is going to be segmentation," Etter said. "DDR is going to be a better fit in higher-end computers, while Rambus will fit into midrange and low-end computers where a mainstream solution is dependent on component count." RDRAM architect Rambus Inc., Mountain View, Calif., said it has failed to generate interest among high-end server makers, but claims to have redressed its capacity issues. "There is an expectation by a number of companies who continue to pursue DDR that they will find customers in the high-end server market," said Subodh Toprani, vice president and general manager of Rambus' Logic Products Division. "My sense is that if we are able to get three or four server companies to go with Rambus, they will drop DDR." Though lagging behind Rambus in their design process, DDR DRAM and SLDRAM have advanced to the latter stages of the JEDEC committee approval process, with final standardization of a DDR specification expected soon. SLDRAM this week received JEDEC approval for its packaging pinout specification and should appear for a full committee vote later this year. SLDRAM's chief proponents are Siemens Microelectronics Inc. and Micron Technology Inc., the only two DRAM companies to have increased their revenue in last year's depressed market, according to Semico Research Corp., Phoenix. Siemens and Micron plan to introduce SLDRAM midyear. Proponents said that in addition to their open architecture, DDR and SLDRAM are under consideration because both are extensions of existing DRAM technology and will demand fewer pinout, packaging, and module adjustments than Rambus. In fact, Hitachi's Etter said SLDRAM could serve as a follow-on to DDR, not just at the high end but in mainstream PCs as well. "It's a very easy migration path," he said. Sherry Garber, an analyst at Semico, said any slip in the Rambus adoption strategy could allow DDR to migrate from the high end into the volume-PC market. "I continue to believe that the industry cannot handle a revolutionary change like Rambus in the next generation," Garber said. "They need to make it evolutionary. But it all comes down to dollars and cents and how much it's going to cost to convert to Rambus and produce the parts." So far, Intel is standing firm, saying its future chip sets will support only Rambus memory. However, companies such as Micron and Via Technologies Inc. are developing chip sets for SLDRAM. Via already has a chip set supporting DDR DRAM and plans to introduce a chip set for Direct RDRAM as well. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Return to EBN Home Page EBN Highlights _Salary Survey _Build-to-Order _Hot 25 Execs ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Please become a registered user of EDTN. It is free and will make it easier for you to receive the information you need. 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