| Updated November 25, 1997 | ||
Intel restructures operationsBy Dawn Yoshitake November 24, 1997 |
Intel (INTC) is embarking on a major
restructuring designed to stem any slowdown in chip
revenues resulting from flagging PC sales. Analysts said the move to restructure comes as Intel is seeking ways to further drive sales of its microprocessors by branching into new markets. The chip giant, which fell short of Wall Street's expectations in the third quarter, is looking at non-PC devices in the consumer market, such as digital cameras, as another possible avenue to sell its processors. |
Related Stories |
Intel stresses imaging, low-cost devicesBy Brooke Crothers and Michael Kanellos November 24, 1997 |
Intel's (INTC) reorganization, announced
today, focuses on emerging product categories,
highlighting just how broad a technology company Intel is
becoming and where PCs may be headed in the future. Four new groups have been created. Namely, the Consumer Products Group, the Business Platform Group, the Small Business and Networking Group, and the Digital Imaging and Video Division. |
Related Stories |
| Updated November 24, 1997 | ||
Despite suit, Intergraph wants its Pentium IIsBy Alexander Wolfe November 23, 1997 |
Intergraph today vowed that continued
supplies of Pentium II processors must be guaranteed for
any resolution of its acrimonious legal dispute with
Intel Corp. "That would have to be part of the settlement," said Jim Meadlock, chief executive officer of Intergraph Corp. "We have to make very sure we have a clear agreement that Intel can't play games with." Intergraph will need ever-greater quantities of the CPUs, as it gears up for a major thrust to expand its share of the Windows NT workstation market in 1998. |
Related Stories |
Intel: Pentium II not easy for CyrixBy Michael Kanellos November 21, 1997 |
While Cyrix claims it has obtained the
right to incorporate Intel's Pentium II patents into its
future chips, Intel says that at best these rights will
only get Cyrix halfway there. Crucial technology relating to the Pentium II is protected by trade secret, not patents, Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy said. Therefore, even if Cyrix can obtain the rights to the patents through its new parent company, National Semiconductor, Cyrix will still lack access to the trade secrets it needs to make a Pentium II. |
Related Stories |
| Updated November 20, 1997 | ||
Grove
has advice for Asia
|
Information technology is revolutionizing the way people live and work -- at least in places where people can afford to use it widely. Business and government leaders gathering at the Asia-Pacific Information Technology Summit, which opens today in San Francisco, will discuss how it can contribute to economic growth and regional integration. | |
Cyrix breaks Pentium II monopolyBy Michael Kanellos November 19 |
Cyrix today said that it may break
Intel's hammerlock on the Pentium II architecture,
opening up this huge market for competing chips. Cyrix affirmed that it has the rights to the plans and other intellectual property necessary to make processors based around Intel's heavily guarded Pentium II design. |
Related Stories |
Big computer vendors pick CyrixBy Brooke Crothers and Michael Kanellos November 19, 1997 |
Burgeoning chip competition appears to
be accomplishing more than any disciplinary action the
Federal Trade Commission might impose on Intel, as Cyrix
(CYRX) appears to have lined up two new major computer
vendors for its chips. Digital Equipment is very close to signing a deal with Cyrix to use its MediaGX chip in a new class of sub-$800 corporate computers to be released in the first half of next year. Meanwhile, Mitsubishi will bring out a Java-based Network Computer (NC) next year in the U.S. that uses the same MediaGX chip, according to Mitsubishi officials. |
|
| Updated November 19, 1997 | ||
Intergraph and Intel in legal flapBy Alexander Wolfe November 18, 1997 |
A scant month after settling its patent
battle with Digital Equipment Corp., Intel Corp. finds
itself embroiled in another major legal row--this time,
with x86 workstation vendor Intergraph Corp. Intergraph fired the first salvo, filing a lengthy lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Alabama, charging Intel with a host of what it termed "anticompetitive practices." Chief among these is an allegation that Intel sought to obtain rights to a series of Intergraph cache-management patents through "coercive tactics," according to the complaint. |
Related Stories |
Intergraph sues Intel for Anti-Competive PracticesLawsuit Text United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama |
In this action, Intergraph asserts claims for monetary damages and equitable relief from Intel for wrongful conduct including fraud, misappropriation of trade secrets, tortious interference with business relations, wantonness, breach of contract, breach of express and implied warranties, negligence, and patent infringement. As more fully described hereafter, Intel has infringed upon patents for computer technology owned by Intergraph. In 1996, Intel began a series of actions to coerce Intergraph into relinquishing such patent rights to Intel. When Intergraph refused to give up its patent rights, Intel undertook a systematic campaign of coercion and oppression against Intergraph. Intel has used and is using its dominant market power in the computer industry to pressure Intergraph to give up its valuable property rights, or to crush Intergraph in retaliation for refusing to do so. Intergraph seeks in this action to recover compensatory damages which have resulted from the wrongful conduct and infringing acts of Intel, seeks punitive damages in an amount sufficient to punish Intel and to deter further wrongful conduct, and requests that Intel be permanently enjoined from continuing its oppressive conduct and infringing acts. | |
Pentium II: Dynamo or dud?By Michael Kanellos and Brooke Crothers November 18, 1997 |
Depending on your point of view, the
Intel Pentium II processor represents either the future
of computing or a placeholder. While major computer manufacturers are increasingly building their latest computer models around the processor, Intel's competitors and observers contend that the Pentium II, which was released in April, does not drastically improve desktop performance. Critics say that the first-generation Pentium II, referred to as the "Slot 1" architecture, does not run Windows 95 applications that much faster than high-end Pentium MMX processors, among other problems. |
|
X86 CPU cloners set to forge 3-D pactBy Rick Boyd-Merritt November 18, 1997 |
The three x86 clone-processor makers are about to take their first big step toward collaborating in their battle with Intel Corp. Under pressure from Microsoft Corp., Advanced Micro Devices, Cyrix and Centaur Technology are on the verge of agreeing to support a standard set of 3-D graphics instruction-set extensions that would challenge--and possibly beat to market--Intel's plans for the next-generation of its MMX technology. | |
Intel's plan for sub-$1,000 sectorBy Michael Kanellos November 18 |
As the sub-$1,000 PC market surges,
Intel (INTC) is responding with a bevy of lower-cost
Pentium II processors that will include the chip's next
generation, code-named Deschutes. Next year, Intel will release at least two different Pentium II-based processors for the low-end sector, according to Richard Dracott, Pentium II marketing director at Intel. "The sub-$1,000 market is growing faster than we expected," he explained. |
|
| Updated November 18, 1997 | ||
AMD
near deals with PC
|
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) may soon
begin supplying K6 processors to two more major PC
manufacturers, though others still resist its chip. The lead candidates for K6 processors appear to be Compaq and Gateway 2000. In contrast, high-flying Dell Computer continues to exemplify the coterie of vendors that show almost no interest in straying from the Intel fold. |
|
Software
Spiral, Intel Profits Both Stall
|
Intel recently spooked investors by reporting weak results for the third quarter and saying the fourth quarter wouldn't be much better, as we anticipated (see MPR 7/14/97, p. 1). The principal cause is a precipitous drop in the average selling price (ASP) of Intel processors, due to a shift in PC sales toward less expensive systems. Many have characterized this shift as an increase in demand for sub-$1,000 PCs, but I see the other side of the coin: weak demand for more expensive systems. | |
RISC
on the Desktop: Game Over
|
With Digital's commitment to build a full range of systems based on IA-64 processors, Intel's new architecture--though still a paper tiger--has nearly completed its sweep of the computer industry. Unless Intel blunders in some major way, it seems inevitable that its microprocessor dominance will gradually be extended to include workstations and servers as well as PCs. | |
AMD struggles with chip productionBy Suzanne Galante and Michael Kanellos November 6, 1997 |
During a meeting with analysts, Advanced
Micro Devices (AMD) said today that its K6 processor
production problems have not gone away, and that those
troublesome issues are going to affect profitability and
production goals. The company said it would not meet its goal of producing 2 million processors this quarter, the second time in a row the company has missed its production target. During the third quarter, AMD had planned to produce between 1.2 million and 1.5 million K6 chips, but produced only a million. At the time, AMD also said that it expected to produce 15 million units in 1998. |
|
Intel to release low-cost Pentium IIBy Michael Kanellos November 4, 1997, |
Intel will release a low-cost version of
the Pentium II that's stripped of extra features as a way
to get the chip into the booming budget computer market. The new chip, to be released in the latter half of 1998, will also present new competitive challenges to Advanced Micro Devices and Cyrix, because the new chip may speed the migration away from the older Pentium chip architecture. |
|
Following Intel, AMD to cut pricesBy Michael Kanellos October 31, 1997 |
Despite low chip yields and recent
financial losses, Advanced Micro Devices will cut prices
on its K6 microprocessors by an estimated 15 to 23
percent Monday to keep pace with archrival Intel. The price cuts adhere to a blood vow made this year by beleaguered AMD that K6 prices would stay 25 percent below the price of equivalent Intel processors. The price cuts follow similar processor discounts announced by Intel this week. |
|
IA-64 Instruction Set Goes Beyond Traditional RISC, VLIWby Linley Gwennap October 27, 1997 |
Breaking out of the 1980s RISC mind set,
Intel and Hewlett-Packard have designed a new instruction
set, IA-64, geared toward the highly parallel processors of the next decade. IA-64 goes beyond previous CISC, RISC, and VLIW instruction sets with a new set of features that its creators call EPIC (explicitly parallel instruction computing). This strategy should give Merced, the first IA-64 chip, a leg up on its old-fashioned competitors when it debuts in 1999. |
Related Stories |
| Updated November 17, 1997 | ||
Pentium II oversupply eroding pricesBy Michael Kanellos November 14, 1997 |
Pentium II computer prices are dropping
fast, and the chip's price may be too. Meanwhile, Intel
is preparing to bring out faster Pentium II processors
next year. An ample supply of Intel Pentium II processors--especially Pentium II chips running at 233 MHz and 266 MHz--has led to unprecedented prices for high-end systems from both major manufacturers and second-tier vendors. |
|
Intel announces Pentium-bug workaroundBy Alexander Wolfe November 15, 1997 |
Intel Corp. late Friday said it had come
up with a workaround for the recently disclosed bug that crashes its Pentium and Pentium/MMX processors. The bug report surfaced a week ago in an anonymous posting on the comp.sys.intel newsgroup. In a posting on its Web site, Intel said the fix "modifies execution flow to avoid the system hang after the invalid instruction is received." |
|
| Updated November 14, 1997 | ||
Intel To Rev Pentium II SpeedsBy Kelly Spang November 14, 1997 |
By the third quarter 1998, Pentium II
speeds will reach 450 MHz while the Pentium Pro and
Pentium with MMX processors will fade away, sources said. From the start of the new year, Intel will continue to push the speeds of its Pentium II processors for Slot 1 and will introduce its Slot 2 processors by the third quarter. |
|
Cyrix chip targets convergenceBy Michael Kanellos November 12 |
Chipmaker Cyrix and a host of
electronics partners are trying to drum up support for a
new all-in-one computing and entertainment device that
they say will be far more versatile than a set-top box
and cost much less than than pricey PC-TVs from the
vendors such as Gateway 2000. If successful, the new device would bring a new level of convergence to the consumer electronics industry as well as give Cyrix another market for its MediaGX processors. |
|
Cyrix promises modem, MPEG-2 in future processorsBy Kristen Kenedy November 13, 1997 |
As Intel looks to raid the low-end
market with a version of its P2 processor, Cyrix
continues to shore up its position there. In the coming year, Cyrix will increase integrated functionality for its low-cost MediaGX processor. Steve Tobak, vice president of corporate marketing at Cyrix, said a future version of the MediaGX will include modem capabilities and MPEG-2 decompression. Cyrix will add Ethernet support for the corporate version of the processor. |
|
Cyrix chip targets living-room, business machinesBy Kristen Kenedy November 12, 1997 |
Cyrix is promoting new uses for the
MediaGX processor in an effort to expose the chip to
markets other than low-end consumer PCs. They include a
media/entertainment center for use in the living room and
a low-priced alternative to the network PC for
businesses. At Comdex/Fall next week, Cyrix will demonstrate the two devices, but the company doesn’t plan to build either system. Cyrix is providing a reference design that manufacturers can use to build their own versions of each system. |
|
Cyrix chip may be hit by bug tooBy Jim Davis November 13, 1997 |
A great deal of attention has lately
been paid to the discovery of a new bug that causes Intel
(INTC) Pentium-based computers to crash, but now there
are reports that a similar bug afflicts certain Cyrix
(CYRX) processors. A recently discovered bug can "freeze up" computers using Cyrix 6x86 series processors, similar to the manner in which the Pentium "F0" bug works, according to German computer magazine C't. |
Related
Stories Intel bug spawns third-party fixes |
| Updated November 13, 1997 | ||
AMD's Dham resignsBy Reuters November 13, 1997 |
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) said
yesterday that Vinod Dham, one of the top executives
responsible for the company's flagship K6 computer chip,
had resigned for "personal reasons." "The best way to phrase it is, he resigned and the company accepted it," Scott Allen, an AMD spokesman, said. |
|
Vinod Dham bows out at AMDBy Larry Barrett and Lisa DiCarlo November 13, 1997 |
Vinod Dham, a veteran industry executive
who played a leading role in the development of the
Pentium processor, resigned from Advanced Micro Devices
Inc. Wednesday. A company spokesman declined to elaborate on the departure of Dham, who had been group vice president of AMD's Computation Products Group. |
|
Intel bug spawns third-party fixesBy Jim Davis November 12, 1997 |
Just days after the discovery of a new
bug that causes Pentium-based computers to crash, some
potential fixes are cropping up even before the release of an official "work-around" from Intel (INTC). The Pentium "F0" bug can freeze up Pentium MMX and "classic" Pentium (non-MMX) computers, machines that number in the hundreds of millions worldwide. |
Related Stories |
Pentium Processor Invalid Instruction ErratumBy Intel Corporation November 12, 1997 |
On Friday afternoon (11/7/97) we
discovered a number of postings in newsgroups talking
about a potential processor "bug." This
describes the assessment of the issue reported on those
postings. The issue occurs only when an illegal instruction sequence is issued. Such a sequence is not purposefully generated in the course of programming nor is such a sequence generated by commercial software. |
|
Pentium F0 Bug InfoBy Hasdir Hashim November 11, 1997 |
Robert Collins of Intel Secrets refuse
to publicize and document this bug so I am going do it.
Hopefully, this document will shed some light on the bug.
I am not writing just for you techies out there. This is
also for people who have the need to run the so-called
"single-user single-minded toy OS". This bug is being referred to as the "Pentium F0" bug. I believe the media picked this up from a newsnet typo. Personally, I prefer calling it LOCK1107 OR NONAME1107 OR BCD1107, based on Collins' bug naming scheme. However, I am no position to argue with the media. :) |
|
Intel pursues workaround for Pentium bugBy Lisa DiCarlo November 11, 1997 |
Intel Corp. has confirmed the existence
of an obscure bug in its Pentium and Pentium with MMX
Technology processors that, under certain user-definable
conditions, can crash systems. The "invalid instruction errata" were made public late last week on Internet chat groups. |
|
Survival
of the Suspicious
|
"You will leave no heritage for your children. Your name will be forgotten. You will fail. You will fail in everything you do." One can easily imagine these words hurled by a feudal lord at an errant knight. It's harder to imagine them uttered by a boss to a worker who had decided to leave his company. Business isn't supposed to matter that much. Nothing is supposed to matter that much. But the words do help explain what has made Andy Grove one of America's most powerful chief executive officers and Intel, the microprocessor-manufacturing company he runs, the technological cornerstone of the personal-computing revolution. | |
| Updated November 11, 1997 | ||
Intel confirms Pentium "F0" bugBy Brooke Crothers November 10, 1997 |
Intel (INTC) today confirmed that a bug
can crash its Pentium processors, and the chip giant was
rushing to come up with a fix. Intel acknowledged the "F0" bug this afternoon, saying that it is now looking into a work-around. A spokesperson said the company would know more about the work-around "within a week." |
Related Stories |
Intel
discovers chip flaw
|
Intel Corp. said Monday it found a
design flaw in its Pentium computer chip that could be
exploited by malicious programmers to crash personal
computers and network servers. The flaw occurs in the Pentium and Pentium with MMX microprocessors, two of the most common chips found in personal computers worldwide, the company said. |
|
| Updated November 10, 1997 | ||
Intel confirms latest Pentium glitchBy Alexander Wolfe November 10, 1997 |
In the latest round of cyberspace
bug-hunting, an anonymous report of a glitch that can
crash Intel's Pentium and Pentium/MMX processors has
surfaced on the comp.sys.intel news group. An Intel spokesman today confirmed the existence of the bug, adding that the company hopes to post information on possible workarounds by the end of the week. "This won't affect any commercial software," the Intel spokesman said. "Somebody would have to maliciously put it out there and you'd have to download a piece of code." |
|
Suspected Pentium Bug May Harm ISPsBy James Glave November 7, 1997 |
A possible new Pentium bug, reports of
which surfaced this morning on the BugTraq security
mailing list, may leave Pentium-based networked computer
systems - especially Internet service providers -
vulnerable to system attack. The bug is essentially four lines of machine code - "F0 0F C7 C8" - and reportedly causes most Pentium-based machines to crash. Posters to the list claim that Pentium Pro and Pentium 2 processors are not affected. |
|
| Updated November 9, 1997 | ||
The Net reacts to Pentium bugBy Brooke Crothers November 9, 1997 |
Reaction a new bug that crashes Intel
(INTC) Pentium processors is spreading across the
Internet, and the prevailing opinion is that the problem
could be serious. The bug has the potential to crash Pentium computers and could be used as a weapon for sabotage, according to Robert Collins, whose Intel Secrets Web site tracks inside information on Intel, the world's leading chipmaker. |
Related Stories |
Intel To Roll Out Stripped Pentium IINovember 8, 1997 By Kelly Spang |
In an attempt to push competitors
Advanced Micro Devices and Cyrix out of the low-end
market, Intel will offer a stripped-down version of its
Pentium II processor in the second half of 1998. The new chips will usher in high-performance sub-$1,000 PCs and allow Intel to address all market segments, from high-end multiprocessor servers down to PCs, with its Pentium II lineup, said sources familiar with the chip maker's plans. |
|
Intel touts "bifurcation" strategyBy Michael Kanellos November 7, 1997 |
Intel fleshed out more details of plans
disclosed earlier to fit chips into as many boxes and
markets as possible. Speaking to financial analysts at the company's biannual analyst's meeting, top Intel executives, including CEO Andy Grove and COO Craig Barrett, said that Intel would next year release a series of processors each optimized for a different class of computing device. |
|
Intel lays out plans for full-court pressBy Lisa DiCarlo November 7, 1997 |
Intel Corp. today laid the foundation
for expanding its reach in the computer market by
disclosing plans to build products for everything from $500 Java-based clients to "lean" clients to eight-way servers. At its biannual financial briefing near its headquarters here, Intel's top ranks also disclosed an aggressive Pentium II road map for portables, desktops and servers. |
|
Will the microprocessor become the PC?By Robert Lemos November 7, 1997 |
Intel Corp. is making a grab for
motherboard real estate in a bid to regain share in the
sub-$1,000 PC market. The company is pushing its top-level processors into the sub-$1,000 PC market -- where it will compete against products from rival microprocessor makers Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Cyrix Corp. |
|
Intel
optimistic to analysts
|
Intel Corp. executives Friday said they
are seeing signs that an "inventory correction"
among personal computer makers is nearing an end. For about a year, PC makers have been working to reduce the lead time for getting computers to market. The industry standard had been about two to three weeks, and the goal is to reduce it to less than a week. |
Related Stories |
| Updated November 7, 1997 | ||
Pentium bug surfacesBy Brooke Crothers November 7, 1997 |
A new bug that crashes Intel
(INTC) Pentium processors has been found and is now being
discussed openly on the Internet. The bug has the potential to crash Pentium computers and could be used as a weapon for sabotage, according to Robert Collins, whose Intel Secrets Web site tracks inside information on Intel, the world's leading chipmaker. |
Related
Stories
Intel works on antidote to bugs |
| Updated November 5, 1997 | ||
Intel May Attack Low-End Consumer MarketBy Mark Hachman Electronic Buyers' News |
Intel Corp. this week plans
to attack the low-end consumer market with a
stripped-down Pentium II module, EBN has learned. Intel is expected to unveil a low-cost Pentium II built upon the Slot 1 interface that eliminates the cache SRAM from the Pentium II module, according to Charles Boucher, a San Francisco-based analyst for UBS Securities Equity Research. Intel has completed the first round of non-disclosure briefings to financial and industry analysts. |
|
x86
Architecture Fragmenting
|
After years of stability, the x86 instruction-set architecture has entered a period of relatively rapid change. Surprisingly, Intel's competitors are out in front, making extensions without waiting for Intel to set the standard. The resulting proliferation of extensions could make it difficult for the chip vendors to get the software support needed to deliver value to users from these innovations. The bigger question these extensions raise is whether any company but Intel can extend the architecture in a meaningful way. | |