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Technology Stocks : Intel Corporation (INTC) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Paul Engel who wrote (52712)	4/10/1998 9:56:00 PM
From: Taby	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 186894

Is this upgrade old news? It was posted today. biz.yahoo.com

To: Paul Engel who wrote (52712)	4/11/1998 4:01:00 PM
From: Larry Loeb	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 186894

Paul, Think Productivity. I find that, with the exception of the network overhead cost, I am getting excellent performance at work from my 133 Mhz Pentium. At home I'm surviving fairly well with a 60 Mhz Pentium (upgraded to 40MB of RAM). I am not claiming to be indicative of all users, but there aren't too many business types (analysis side) who use their PC more than I. The time savings realizable from an upgrade to a 300 Mhz Pentium II with MMX are not obvious. Given my stock holdings, I would rather believe your opinion than my own experience. I can't, however, ignore what I see with my own eyes. I believe that there will be more processor intensive applications in the future. As an investor, hope they come sooner rather than later. Larry

To: Paul Engel who wrote (52712)	4/11/1998 5:36:00 PM
From: Kealoha	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 186894

Paul Engel, technogod, what is your read???? aloha AMD can do Pentium II, P6 chip By Michael Kanellos Staff Writer, CNET NEWS.COM April 10, 1998, 5:00 p.m. PT update It may not be straight, but the legal path is clear for Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) to build microprocessors that use the "P6" system bus, a closely guarded Intel technology. If AMD decided to follow this course, selling chips with a P6-style data pathway would make it easier and cheaper for AMD to get into the mainstream PC market because the chips would be largely interchangeable with Pentium IIs, analysts say. In the next two years, Pentium II-compatible computers are expected to make up the lion's share of the PC market. As it now stands, circuit board and computer makers cannot swap AMD's K6 chips with Pentium IIs. They must instead go to the expense of designing different computers to accommodate each. The legal pathway could also open an opportunity for IBM, a company with access to a large chunk of Intel intellectual property, to enter the PC processor market. AMD has acknowledged that the P6 technology is within its grasp but publicly denies that the company is planning to adopt it. But what AMD ultimately decides to do, given the opportunity to develop Pentium II clones, remains unanswered. The P6 bus is a data path and a critical piece of Pentium II intellectual property. The term P6 is usually used to describe the architecture that forms the foundation of the Pentium Pro, Pentium II, and future Pentium II-compatible processors. AMD's opportunity largely derives from licensing agreements and its increasingly close relationship with IBM, which has emerged as one of AMD's strongest partners. IBM has the rights to most of the intellectual property required to build processors and the critical related silicon, called chipsets, which are compatible with the Pentium II. IBM recently signed an agreement to manufacture chips for AMD and has been increasingly adopting the K6 for its low-end consumer computers. The two companies are also in negotiations on a number of other fronts, according to sources close to IBM. Big Blue is "talking to AMD about all kinds of stuff," said a source close to IBM. The two companies have had ongoing discussions on financial topics, said Ashok Kumar, an analyst with Piper Jaffray. "They can find some way to do it...IBM's agreement [with Intel] is as wide as it gets," said Richard Belgard, a semiconductor consultant. But Belgard added: "It's certain to land it court." The key, Belgard said, is that a licensed foundry can make the chip or a licensed designer can design it. IBM has a licensed plant and in all likelihood has the necessary patents to design a chip, he noted. Mulloy confirmed that IBM's cross-licensing agreement with Intel is broad, covering much of the intellectual property that underlay the Pentium II and P6 bus. It could even be possible for IBM to enter into the Intel-compatible chip market with its own unique design, Belgard speculated. Of course, there is no guarantee AMD or IBM will move forward on plans to replicate Pentium II technology. Ben Anixter, vice president of corporate affairs at AMD, denied that the company will adopt a form of the P6 bus for its K6 or upcoming K7 chip. "It's possible, but forget about the legalities--we are not going to do it." Despite AMD's denial, Piper Jaffray's Kumar believes it is imperative to adopt the P6 bus for the K7. With other bus technologies AMD chips will be saddled with higher support costs. With the P6 bus, AMD chips will be interchangeable with Pentium IIs, he said. Other companies that have equally broad licenses with Intel are National Semiconductor and SGS Thomson. National has the ability to make a P6 bus, said Steve Tobak, National's vice president of corporate marketing. At the March WinHEC Conference in Orlando, Florida, he noted that it would be "theoretically possible" for National to make Pentium II-style chips with the P6 bus for itself or third parties. Cross-licensing doesn't provide all of the pieces of the puzzle, Intel maintains. Some of the technology surrounding the P6 is protected by trade secrets, Mulloy and others have said in the past. To get a functional equivalent of a P6 bus, vendors will have to execute some re-engineering. Intel is an investor in CNET: The Computer Network.