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To: REH who wrote (7895)	10/5/1998 3:12:00 PM
From: REH	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93625

NEC Readies VCM Core; Intel Not Yet On Board Oct 05, 1998 (Tech Web - CMP via COMTEX) -- Having assembled third-party chip-set support for its virtual-channel memory (VCM) architecture, NEC Electronics is poised to thrust the new 133-MHz synchronous DRAM (SDRAM) core into the notebook and low-cost desktop-PC markets. However, without the endorsement of chip-set industry leader Intel, which has thus far withheld its blessing, many observers said they predict 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 Joint Electronic Device Engineering Council committee approval as an open industry standard in August, the U.S. arm of Japan's NEC 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 will also reveal next week that chip-set vendors Acer Laboratories, Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS), and Via Technologies will roll out VCM-enabled chip sets as early as this month, with volume supplies coming later in the fourth quarter. Together with its industry partners, NEC said it 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 chip-set makers share about 40 percent of the value-line PC market, the noticeable lack of support from chip-set market leader Intel could hinder VCM's adoption rate, said Mario Morales, an analyst at IDC, in Mountain View, Calif. "Until NEC gets Intel, it's going to be very difficult to standardize a solution," he 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 road map. "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."