NEC readies VCM core, but Intel not yet on board
Oct. 02, 1998 (Electronic Buyers News - CMP via COMTEX) -- Silicon
Valley- Having assembled third-party chipset support for its
virtual-channel memory architecture, NEC Electronics Inc. is poised to
thrust the new 133-MHz SDRAM core into the notebook and low-cost
desktop-PC markets.
However, without the endorsement of chipset industry leader Intel
Corp., which has thus far withheld its blessing, many observers predict
that NEC's VCM core will have a tough go of it in the broader market.
NEC, which released details of its VCM technology less than a year
ago, has moved quickly to build an industry framework to drive the core
into laptops and so-called value-line desktop PCs.
In addition to receiving full JEDEC committee approval as an open
industry standard in August, the U.S. arm of Japan's NEC Corp. has
garnered second-sourcing support from Siemens AG's Semiconductor Group.
NEC expects to disclose other DRAM sources this month, and industry
observers said the company is working closely with PC OEMs.
NEC today will also reveal that chipset vendors Acer Laboratories
Inc., Silicon Integrated Systems Corp. (SiS), and Via Technologies Inc.
will roll out VCM-enabled chipsets as early as this month, with volume
supplies coming later in the fourth quarter. Together with its industry
partners, NEC expects VC-SDRAM to penetrate the sub-$1,000 desktop-PC
market in systems coming out in the first half of 1999.
However, while Acer, Via, SiS, and other third-party chipset makers
share about 40% of the value-line PC market, the noticeable lack of
support from chipset market leader Intel could hinder VCM's adoption
rate, said Mario Morales, an analyst at International Data Corp.,
Mountain View, Calif. "Until NEC gets Intel, it's going to be very
difficult to standardize a solution," Morales said.
Intel, which has spent time and resources moving memory and PC makers
alike toward a 1999 adoption of the Direct Rambus DRAM interface,
didn't rule out future support for VCM. However, the company has made
no publicly stated provision for the architecture in its roadmap.
"Our memory direction is clear," said a spokesman for the Santa
Clara, Calif., chip maker. "We support Direct Rambus, and we're going
to enable that in 1999."
VCM is said to improve conventional SDRAM cores by adding SRAM
registers to temporarily store data in 16 distinct channels between the
input/output terminals and memory cells. Operating at a 133-MHz clock
rate, the SRAM buffers increase peak bandwidth to about 1 Gbyte/s,
according to Michael Ham, product marketing engineer for NEC's memory
group in Santa Clara.
To make room for the SRAM registers, NEC removed the VCM core's
control circuitry, moving logic functions to the memory controller. The
die size and cost of a VC-SDRAM exceeds that of a typical SDRAM by
about 3%, but improves system-level performance by up to 25%, according
to supporters. In systems built on a unified memory architecture, that
premium may be somewhat lower because of VCM's ability to replace level
2 cache, NEC said.
In a notebook PC, VCM can lower memory power consumption by up to
50%, according to Ham, because the addition of SRAM registers minimizes
the number of page misses, limiting how often the SDRAM banks must be
activated.
In the sub-$1,000 desktop-PC market-a segment in which non-Intel
chipsets and microprocessors have made appreciable gains-VCM-enabled
systems will sport an array of new chipsets, including the MVP4 from
Taipei, Taiwan-based Via, which is slated for production later this
year.
Because VC-SDRAM is a core, not a memory interface like Direct RDRAM
or SLDRAM, it requires no changes to pinouts or packages, which
simplifies the design process. "It's a no-brainer," said Dean Hays,
vice president of marketing at Via's U.S. operations in Fremont, Calif.
According to NEC, VCM-enabled chipsets will feature scalable
front-side bus speeds ranging from 66 to 133 MHz. In addition to
supporting VC-SDRAMs, the new chipsets will support PC-100/66 SDRAM and
EDO memory. All the chipsets will feature full AGP support, and some
will have an integrated 3D graphics controller, according to NEC.
Exactly how VCM will interrelate with other memory architectures
coming onto the market is unclear.
At about the same time that VC-SDRAM-enabled PCs enter the value-line
computer sector next year, several OEMs are expected to unveil high-end
desktop systems using Direct RDRAM.
Eventually, the two technologies should cross into the same
performance class, at which point Intel could consider offering chipset
support for the VCM architecture and meld the Rambus interface with the
new SDRAM core, analysts said.
"We'll have Rambus coming down from the top and VCM coming up from
the bottom, and, at some point they'll meet," said Steven Cullen, an
analyst at In-Stat Inc., Scottsdale, Ariz. "They could meet and merge."
Rambus Inc., Mountain View, Calif., said all its Direct RDRAM
licensees have the ability to design VC-SDRAM-compatible chips,
including NEC, which has not yet made a move in that direction.
Rambus predicts that VCM will have to earn respect in the market, and
that the two technologies will have to enter the same price/performance
sphere, before they are brought together.
"If somebody can prove the core at the low end, then we're confident
that with all the DRAM licensees out there, some company will merge the
two," said Subodh Toprani, vice president and general manager of
Rambus' logic division.
However, while its long-term prospects look good, until Intel
launches a VC-SDRAM chipset program, the technology could have
difficulty breaking into more mainstream markets, said Jim Handy, an
analyst at Dataquest Inc., San Jose.
"The one thing NEC really needs more than anything else is chipset
support," Handy said. "Until they get it, [VCM] isn't going to gain any
prominence."
-Mark Hachman contributed to this story.
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