Here's an interesting tidbit -
November 24, 1998
COMPUTER RESELLER NEWS : Las Vegas -- IBM Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Compaq Computer Corp. are engaged in a server architecture standoff with processor kingpin Intel Corp. that will determine how much money the three computer giants will make on servers in the future.
The three server giants, which all have heavy research and development investments in midrange and mainframe server I/O architecture, are demanding they have more control of the next generation I/O (NGIO) specification for Intel servers that will be built in the year 2000 and beyond.
"It's a war," said an executive from one Big Three vendor. "What you are talking about is standardization of I/O. That is fundamental to our business. Intel sees it as a control point."
"There are only three things that affect performance-memory, the processor and the I/O. If the OEMs can't differentiate with I/O, there really isn't any other value-add they can offer," said another Big Three industry source.
Intel, Santa Clara, Calif., is engaged in a massive effort to standardize future server infrastructure and I/O, industry executives said. That kind of standardization could result in a business model that favors white-box server VARs and direct PC server makers such as Dell Computer Corp., Round Rock, Texas, which traditionally has not invested heavily in server research and development.
The top PC makers are demanding royalty and licensing fees on I/O technology or "intellectual property" they have pioneered in the midrange and mainframe markets, sources said. If they are successful, it could result in direct marketers such as Dell licensing and paying royalties to them, the sources said.
"Intel could go write a spec and, as soon as somebody goes to try to implement that spec and that specification requires intellectual property from somebody other than Intel, that person has to go find the originator of the IP and go license it," said Phil Hester, vice president of systems and technology and chief technical officer at IBM's Personal Systems Group.
Hester said he is optimistic an agreement will be reached with Intel, but if IBM has to, it will go its own way. "We know what needs to be built in terms of future I/O," he said. "If we have to do that, we'll go do that. Our preference is not to go off by ourselves."
"There has to be this forum for innovation to come from many, many sources into a common pool," said Karl Walker, Compaq's vice president of technology development. "Frankly, we feel very uncomfortable with one company saying they have all the answers, and all roads leading through one company. That's one of the reasons we chose to partner with HP and IBM on the PCI/X initiative. We felt the benefit of having the three leading server vendors all focused on advancing that standard together sends a clear and safe message both to the end-user community and the adapter-card community."
Intel does not take issue with companies wanting to get paid for intellectual property but does not want to see a proprietary solution. "The fundamental principle is openness," said Mitch Schults, director of I/O marketing at Intel. "We're trying to avoid over-specifying the technology," Schults said.
NGIO is "a complete generational change," said Hester. "It is not an incremental change. If we are going to go do a complete new architecture, our opinion is that needs to be grounded in a lot of the issues that we believe that we understand from having built large systems over many years," he said. "We believe that we understand that much better than someone who has been traditionally a semiconductor manufacturer, which clearly understands the PC business. But this is not a PC. This is a large system. "
When asked if Houston-based Compaq, HP, Palo Alto, Calif., and IBM, Armonk, N.Y., have a united front, Hester said the companies share the same concerns on next-generation I/O. "None of us have gone through the level of detail yet that we need to to really architect this," he said. "But in principle, the set of issues we are worried about in terms of scalability and availability is common."
Microsoft Corp., Redmond, Wash., is staying neutral, said Carl Stork, general manager of the Windows Operating Systems Division. "Working behind the scenes is the best role for us," he said, adding Microsoft favors a single I/O standard. "We have good relations with Intel, HP, IBM and Compaq. " |
