April 1998
- Week ending 24 April, 1998
After six months of work, the Federal Trade Commission has
passed their judgement on Digital's and Intel's out of court
settlement. While allowing the existing agreement to stand, the
FTC has imposed additional mandates to "preserve competition
in the microprocessor market by ensuring the viability of
Digital's Alpha chip, regarded by many as the fastest
microprocessor in the world". The ruling includes public
disclosure of many fascinating tidbits and makes for excellent
reading. For example, pay attention to the fact that Digital and
AMD had a signed MOU for AMD to fab Alphas last month; read the
wording regarding "Intel's continued market dominance"
and remember that Intel still faces other rulings from the FTC
regarding unfair market practices. And of course, there's also
the requirement for Digital to find yet another fab partner with
the FTC emphasizing the on-going talks with IBM.
A new day dawns for consumer choice...
- Intel
Corporation (press release from the
FTC)
- "FTC Ensures That Digital's Alpha Chip -- a Key
Rival to Intel's Chips -- Remains Competitive"
"Agency's
Approval of the Intel/Digital Deal Preserves Competition
in the Microprocessor Market By Ensuring Alternative
Sources of Supply for the Alpha Chip"
- "Digital's Alpha technology represents the most
significant threat to Intel's continued market
dominance..."
- DIGITAL
EQUIPMENT CORPORATION - CMP
(complaint)
- The original complaint as filed with the FTC, which makes
for excellent background material and covers the out of
court settlement agreed to by Digital and Intel.
- DIGITAL
EQUIPMENT CORPORATION - AGR
(agreement)
- This is the actual consent order as published by the FTC
where it is on display for public comment. Take a look at
paragraphs II.A (AMD), III.A (Samsung), and IV (IBM or
others) -- these are the additional requirements levied
on the settlement in an attempt to ensure that Alpha
remains an open and sustainable architecture.
- Analysis
to Aid Public Comment
- This is the FTC's lay explanation of their ruling. This
shows that not only does the FTC have an excellent grasp
of the computer and semiconductor industry and what it
takes to compete in it (e.g., Paragraph III.B,
"Barriers to Entry") as well as their
understanding of the ramifications of Intel's market
leadership and the need for competition (Paragraph III.C,
"Competitive Effects").
Of course, both Digital and Intel responded to the ruling, and
the press published their opinions.
Federal Trade
Commission Endorses DIGITAL's Alpha Technology as Microprocessor
Market Alternative (Digital press release)
Intel
Settlement Agreement (Intel press release)
- Federal
Trade Commission May Approve Intel-DEC Settlement This
Week
- Federal
Trade Commission Approves Digital-Intel Deal
- FTC
Pushes Digital To License Alpha To Intel Rivals
- FTC
gives OK to Digital/Intel chip deal
- FTC
gives green light on Digital-Intel deal
- FTC
approves Digital-Intel deal
- Various articles that really don't have a lot to say
other than exhibit various trade journal's particular
bias towards one vendor or the other.
And yes there was more news, but not a whole lot.
- Samsung
Has New High-Power Servers
- Samsung announced new servers based on 500 to 633 MHz
Alphas. (Any additional pointers to info would be greatly
appreciated!)
- Can
Compaq Blow $10 Billion?
- Aaron Goldberg wonders if Compaq understands what it
takes to be an enterprise player.
- 3D
graphics firms to merge
- Evans & Sutherland buys AccelGraphics, with
ramifications for Alpa users, allowing E&S to reach
down to board level products.
- E&S
Ramps Up Next-Generation REALimage 2000 Graphics
Technology For NT
- REALimage 2000 gets faster; E&S commits to regular
performance upgrades.
-
- Back to Top
- Week ending 17 April, 1998
- Cybex
Computer Products Becomes the First Company to Offer Full
Line of Kvm Switches Certified for Microsoft Windows NT
- Cybex's lineup of KVM switches now sports the
"Designed for Microsoft Windows NT" logo.
- Digital
Equipment Corporation Reports Net Income Of $307 Million
For The Third Quarter
- Digital
Q3 income easily beats the Street
- Even if you don't count the income from the sale of the
network products division to Cabletron, Digital still
trounced the analysts expectations, including a nice
boost in UNIX AlphaServers. Of special interest, note the
comment in Digital's release regarding the creation of a
Samsung subsidiary to market and sell Alphas. Yes, folks,
you read it correctly: an entire company devoted to
nothing but marketing and selling Alpha!
- Corel
and Digital Showcase Alpha™ Software at NAB Show
- Digital and Samsung were showing off the released
versions of CorelDRAW 8 and WordPerfect Suite 8 at NAB
- I'd
bet on Microsoft by John C. Dvorak
- In this week's issue of "I don't understand Alpha so
I'll believe Intel", John Dvorak comes to a warped
extrapolation that because Compaq needs Alpha, and Intel
controls Alpha, Alpha is dead. Someone let this poor soul
know how misdirected he is; reach him through his PC
Magazine Discussion forum.
- Intel's
the Root of Microsoft's Problem
- And in a stunningly brilliant article, David Chernicoff
of Windows Sources follows the progression from 32 bit
versions of NT to 64 bit, and how critical a
Merced-native version of NT is for Intel's success. While
32 bit NT is native on the Alpha as will be the 64 bit
version, running the 32 bit Intel version on Merced would
have to be done in emulation. Just think, now there will
probably be Alpha, IA64, and x86 directories on the NT
distribution.
- Digital
moves to outmuscle Intel’s Merced with Alpha
- (registration at Electronics
Weekly required) A brief interview with Dave Jessel,
with some interesting quotes regarding future Alphas,
what's currently in the design house, and the
competition.
- Intel
Inside Everything
- A look at how the (s)low man on the totem pole manages to
maintain market share. Obviously, it's not brilliant
technical designs that keeps Intel's monopoly afloat.
- Samsung
advances Alpha -- Despite doubts about chip's future,
South Korean company is introducing products targeted at
nontraditional markets
- Samsung attacks the traditionally non-Alpha market,
labelling their new KP21264 line based on integer
performance multipliers over the 333 MHz Pentium II. Note
the error in the article regarding cache sizes: the 21164
has 8K I-cache plus 8K D-cache and 96K L2 cache, while
the 21264 has 64K I-cache plus 64K D-cache.
- Microsoft
flashes 'Chrome' at developers
- The next beta release of Microsoft's Internet Explorer
(what some are calling "a browser on steroids")
will soon be available; due to the high demands it places
on the computer and operating systems (the article
references the 350 MHz P-II as being a minimum), the call
is going out for Alpha NT users to test the program. You
can sign up for the beta program if you are a member of
Digital's ASAP program by visiting
Digital's IE5 beta site.
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- Back to Top
- Week ending 10 April, 1998
- Alpha
Chills to 767 MHz
- Know how to make electronics go faster? Turn the clock
speed up, right? Well, that's part of the equation,
because when you crank more MegaHertz in, you've also got
to pump in more electricity, and pump out more heat. What
better way to pump out that heat than with a heat pump?
That's what KryoTech has married to the Alpha chip in
this instance with a high-end workstation, and according
to this article, in the future possible servers.
- Samsung
Introduces Alpha 21264, World's Fastest Microprocessor --
Sets Standards for 64-bit Visual and Enterprise Computing
- Sure, KryoTech's got cool technology, but for the more
mainstream user who doesn't want to worry about phase
change cooling systems when they buy a computer, here's
the announcement we've anxiously been awaiting for the
general availability of the 21264. The details are
tantalizing with integer performance over 3 times that of
a 500 MHz Alpha 21164 processor!
- Samsung
eyes 1,000-MHz chips
- The obligatory, albeit incorrect,reminder from Intel's
propoganda mouthpiece C|Net that Intel acquired Digital's
semiconductor manufacturing plant last year -- in
reality, as of this writing, the deal hasn't even closed
yet! (Remember what happened last year was that Digital
and Intel agreed to settle out of court for Intel's
intellectual property theft!) This article does go on to
mention a new Samsung motherboard, the SMB-UX, and talks
of the chip-level compatibility between the 21264 and the
AMD K7.
- DIGITAL
Server 7000HA Cluster Solution for Windows NT
- The announcement of Digital's packaged cluster offering
available with either Alpha or that other processor.
- DIGITAL
Showcases Visual Computing Solutions at NAB '98
- The official press release announcing several new
technologies announced at NAB, including the Creation
Studio 3D, changes to the base Creation Studio, and the
KryoTech 767 MHz system.
- Digital
ships latest workstation for 3-D pros
- MacWeek takes a brief look at Digital's new Creation
Studio 3D.
-
- Laying
low is a risky marketing strategy
- In an article that superficially targets SUN for not
marketing their hardware properly, this author also
discusses Digital's "shortsighted" marketing,
and says "It's about time independent labs were able
to give Intel processors some real competition, by
comparing them to the best that RISC technology has to
offer" in hopes that Compaq's acquisition of Digital
may finally loosen those all-too-tight marketing lips. Shout
it from the hilltops! Alpha rules!
Digital, you really don't need to be ashamed of
this!!! Maybe Compaq won't be, but I'm hoping for Samsung
to be the real Alpha champion.
- AMD
gets Microsoft's blessing
- An article mostly about Microsoft's support for AMD's new
multimedia instructions, but it also mentions how
Microsoft has issued a vote of confidence in the Alpha.
- Compaq
Shifts Gears To Absorb Digital
- A look at the potential ways Digital could be integrated
into Compaq, with historical references to Tandem, also.
A couple of other juicy tidbits include the pending
announcement of a third foundry for Alpha in a few weeks
(Any More Discussion
would only be speculation!) and the next codename to hit
the list: Monet, a line of 21264 based workstations to
appear this fall.
- Exec
says Compaq, Digital to be tightly integrated
- More on the merger, some tidbits on technologies, plus
the revelation by Harry Copperman that Digital is content
with being number 2! Hey, Harry, remember what W.
Somerset Maughn said: "If you expect the best, you
very often get it." Shoot higher than
number 2!!
-
- New
DIGITAL FX!32 Software Boosts Alpha Performance of x86
Applications
- The announcement for version 1.3 of FX!32, which provides
greater performance and better compatibility with many
applications, especially with its ability to run x86
System Services, ODBC drivers, Screen Savers, and even
some Internet web browser plugins!
- Microsoft,
Novell To Shed More Light On 64-Bit Plans
- Here's one for you if you want to write a letter to the
editor! Drop a note to Mary
Jo Foley and remind her that Merced is vaporware --
she claims that "all 64-bit processors that support
NT, which, at present, means... Alpha and ...
Merced". Present??? Anyone but developers will be
(un)lucky if they have a Merced-based system within 2
years!!! The only 64 bit processor that presently
supports NT is Alpha!
- DIGITAL
and Microsoft Help Provide Online Boston Marathon Results
- With some rather nifty RF ID tags and AlphaServers
running NT, the stats on the new Boston Marathon should
prove to be pretty dynamic!
- Discreet
Logic and Digital to Offer Complete Turnkey Video Editing
Solutions for Windows NT
- The edit* non-linear video editing package is now
available on Alpha, with MicroAge offering pre-configured
turnkey edit* solutions.
- Media
100 Inc. And Digital To Provide Windows NT Solutions To
The Digital Video Markets
- Media 100 and Digital will work to bring digital video
solutions using Finish for Windows NT to the market by
first providing x86 based configurations while Media 100
ports their software to Alpha, with products available
hopefully in the latter half of this year.
- INTERSOLV
Delivers Oracle8 ODBC Data Connectivity Technology
- Version 3.10 of Intersolv's ODBC drivers are available
with support for new features in Oracle8 for only $99.
- Making
OLAP Talk in Tongues
- Gentia Software releases a new version of their Gentia
business intelligence and online analytical processing
package with support for 30 different languages using
Unicode UTF-8, making distribution of international
versions of business packages developed on this platform
significantly easier.
- VERITAS
Advances Backup, Disaster Recovery and Data Protection
with VERITAS NetBackup 3.1 for Windows NT Server
- Veritas' NetBackup is now available on Alpha, touting
features like online backup of Exchange and SQL systems
used in 24x7 environments.
- NewTek
and Dynamic Pictures Announce Bundling Agreement- Inspire
3D and Oxygen 102 3D Graphics Accelerator Card for $699
- Buy an Oxygen 102 3D card and get NewTek's Inspire 3D
included, for
- NewTek's
LightWave 3D Finds an Important Role in the
Much-Anticipated Movie Lost in Space
- amgFX used LightWave on NT systems to create some of the
special effects in yet another number one movie, Lost
In Space.
- NT
Update; Small Business Server, Microsoft Releases Service
Pack
- Service Pack for Microsoft's SBS is now available; this
article includes a link to the website where you can
order a CD.
- Samsung
and Station X Studios Sign Strategic Agreement
- Alpha-Addict Grant Boucher and his team of artisans at Station X Studios
gets to play with 21264 systems before the rest of us,
leveraging his company's business with a crafty advantage
-- more power on a standard platform at low prices to
create better solutions quicker for his customers.
- Intel,
HP plan Merced's successor
- Intel and HP's second IA64 processor, code named
McKinley, is planned for release in 2001, starting at
speeds of 1,000 MHz. Aw, that's too bad, guys -- 2 years
too late and too slow! Hmmm, that sounds familiar.
-
Compaq, Digital, Alpha, and Alphapowered
are trademarks of Compaq Computer Corporation.
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The AlphaNT Source website and its
contents Copyright © 1998,1999,2000 by Aaron C. Sakovich
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