Intel Investors - Intel's Product RoadMap through 1999 -
There seems to be a few errors in the following, but a few key insights are also available:
- XEON Launch - set for June 30, 1998 - a Tuesday!
- Portola - Intel's follow on to the i740 2D/3D Graphics chip - maybe 4x to 5x faster than the i740. Still not fast enough for Jim McMannis!
- Tanner - a "Bridge" chip (Discussed previously) between IA32 and IA64 products.
- Whitney - a 440BX/i740 combination Graphics/Chip Set
- Integrated AUDIO for incorporation of Audio functions directly inside Intel Chip Sets
- Speed - 500 Mhz, 600 MHz - enough to drive AMD and Cyrix GA-GA!
Here it is!
Paul
{======================}
techweb.cmp.com
Intel Document Reveals Chip
Plans Through 1999
(3:45 p.m. EDT, 5/8/98)
By: Mark Hachman
Although it's only May, the lazy days of summer
may be already here for Intel Corp.'s customers.
Until Intel reinvents the mainstream desktop PC in
early 1999, the biggest headache for OEMs may
be figuring out Intel's strategy in the sub-$1,000
segment.
In the latest revision of its processor and chipset
roadmap, analysts said the only significant
surprise was the cancellation of the chipset that
supported the IEEE 1394 serial interface.
On the other hand, future products that have
previously leaked out to its customers via word of
mouth have now appeared on the confidential Intel
documents, presented within the past weeks to
the company's customers.
They include Whitney, the chipset for sub-$1,000
PCs that will integrate an Intel graphics chip;
Camino, the mainstream successor to the 440BX
chip set; and Tanner, a 500 MHz workstation chip.
All will ship in the second quarter of 1999.
Blaming the slow initial adoption rate of 1394
products, Intel has cancelled the PIIX6 , a "south
bridge" core logic chip that included the 1394
interface. The 440BX chip set including the PIIX6
was also known as the 440JX.
The 1394 interface was designed to connect to
new consumer electronics devices, as well as to
modular storage and communications peripherals
designed to meet Intel's Device Bay specification.
But in February of this year, Intel also threw its
weight behind the ATA-66 storage interface, which
analysts now expect to replace the 1394
connection, for now. The ATA-66 interface will first
appear in the Camino chipset in 1999.
Nevertheless, the Intel documents state
repeatedly that the company is still committed to
developing the 1394 technology further. The
decision to reevaluate the company's chipset
plans came at the request of Intel's customers, an
Intel spokesman said.
But until Intel can develop another means to spark
1394 interest, including possibly another chipset,
the company recommends buyers use a PCI
add-on card or purchase 1394 chips from leading
vendors like Texas Instruments Inc., Dallas and
Adaptec Inc., Milpitas, Calif.
"Add-on cards and motherboard solutions
currently represent the fastest, most flexible way
of including 1394 support," into PCs, said the
spokesman.
The Low End: What Would You Pay for
Performance?
According to one of Intel's customers, the
roadmap update was delayed several weeks. "I
have to figure they're really wondering how to
position themselves over there," he said.
As further proof, the customer highlighted Intel's
pricing strategy in the low-end PC market.
Intel will replace the 300 MHz "Mendocino"
Celeron processor, with 128 Kbytes of integrated
cache, with a faster 333 MHz verison on
September 13. According to other reports, the
new Celeron was a result of manufacturing
improvements, an Intel spokeswoman said.
Yet Intel's roadmap says that chip will be priced at
$209 in 1,000-unit quantities, dropping only to
$196 the following quarter. Overall, the sample
prices are higher than what analysts expected
(see chart).
"From a tactical perspective, the Celeron pricing
is significantly higher than what you'd expect to
see in a sub-$1,000 PC," said Dean McCarron,
principal at Mercury Research Corp.
"One scenario says that they couldn't build
Mendocino cost-effectively enough to compete at
the (older 300 MHz) speed," added another
analyst who asked not to be named.
Intel's current pricing strategy also fails to define a
clean break between Celeron and the Pentium II.
Through November, the price of a Celeron chip is
within about $10 of a Pentium II running one speed
grade slower.
For example, on July 26, a 300 MHz cacheless
Pentium II, dubbed Covington, will be priced at
$159, the identical price of a 266 MHz full-fledged
Pentium II.
In the second quarter of 1999, Intel will replace the
existing 440EX chip set for sub-$1,200 PCs with
Whitney, the code name for a chipset that
integrates an Intel graphics chip, believed to be
the first-generation Intel740.
The 1999 PC: the Next Generation
In the first half of 1999, the Camino chipset, the
Katmai microprocessor and the Portola graphics
chip will define the next major revision of the
desktop PC.
Camino provides the first interface to Direct
Rambus DRAM, the Accelerated Graphics Port
running at 4X speeds, and the ATA-66 storage
interface.
The documents offer no further guidance as to
which segments of the market should use
RDRAM, SDRAM, SLDRAM, or the Rambus
memory module that also accepts SDRAM.
Camino also includes the Audio Controller `97
digital link, confirming analysts' previous
suspicions that Intel can now for the first time
assimilate the low end of the PC audio market as
well.
Although Camino will appear in systems shipping
in the second quarter of 1999, the introduction of
the complementary Katmai processor has been
pushed up to the first quarter of that year.
As expected, the Katmai processor will be
introduced in the first quarter 1999 at 450 MHz,
moving to 500 MHz in the second quarter. The
Katmai chip will be paired with 512 Kbytes of
Level 2 cache, packaged in the standard SECC
Slot 1 cartridge, according to the documents. No
pricing has been set.
Intel is also moving quickly to ensure that the
software industry will back Katmai's 70 new
multimedia instructions. The release of the earlier
MMX instructions was hamstrung by the lack of
compiler tools needed to write code for the chip.
Because of this, Intel has included a
Katmai-specific compiler in its software
development kit.
Over 1,000 Katmai development systems will be
sent to developers this summer; over 150
software vendors are already working on
products, the documents say.
Complementing both the Camino chip set and
Katmai will be Portola, the successor to the
existing Intel740 graphics chip, once code-named
Auburn.
When shipped in the second quarter of 1999,
OEMs should expect Portola to deliver "4 to 5
times the 3D performance of the Intel740,"
according to Intel's claims. Portola should be
software-compatible with Whitney, according to
the roadmap.
Perhaps as a result of middling industry
performance reviews, Intel now is touting the
Intel740's low bill of materials. Although the
documents cite its "industry-leading 3D
performance and quality," the documents state
that OEMs can save up to $24 by using the i740
and its associated low-cost SDRAM, compared
with pricier SGRAM found alongside competing
chips.
A spokeswoman for Intel declined to comment,
citing the confidential nature of the roadmap.
The Intel Workstation: Onwards, Upwards
Slated for a June 30 launch, the Slot 2 "Xeon"
workstation processor is scheduled to yield up to
450 MHz until the first quarter 1999.
As Intel executives previously indicated, cache
sizes will range upwards from 512 Kbytes to 1 to
2 megabytes. Pricing for the chips, in 1,000-unit
quantities, will range from about $1,000 to $4,500,
while the associated 440GX and 450NX chipsets
will allow 2- and 4-processor systems,
respectively.
But Intel will debut the new 500 MHz Tanner
microprocessor in the second quarter of 1998,
earlier than originally planned. In the second half of
the year, Tanner will coexist with a future
unnamed Slot 2 processor to debut at 600 MHz.
Based upon earlier roadmaps and conversations
with Intel executives, analysts believe without
confirmation that Tanner is expected to bridge the
transition into the 64-bit Merced processor by
connecting to the same chipset.
Tanner will connect to the 440GX and 450NX chip
set, as well as an unknown chipset code-named
"Carmel". |
