Alpha Comes of Age at SIGGRAPH '98; Alpha 21264 Processor Delivers the First 64-bit Windows NT Environment, Spurs Industry Adoption of Alpha Technology for Digital Media

Business Wire, July 21, 1998

ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 21, 1998--At SIGGRAPH '98 today, Alpha Processor, Inc. demonstrated Alpha 21264, the advanced 64-bit processor family, maintaining its leadership position in processor performance for digital media applications.

The third generation of Alpha, the 21264, is the world's fastest Windows NT solution, delivering twice the performance of the current 21164 at the same frequency, and speeds that are two to five times faster than any other processor available.

Offering scalability from single and multiprocessor environments to high end systems, the 21264 family's high-bandwidth buses, micro-architectural innovations and breakthrough floating point capabilities deliver superior performance to power-hungry digital media applications. Alpha's unmatched processing power delivers broadcast quality and real-time interactivity to applications at unsurpassed speed. Alpha technology has powered the creation of hundreds of special effects in film and television, and is fast becoming the platform of choice among creators of advanced graphics content.

New Standard for Emerging Visual Computing

The 21264 Alpha processors provide a new standard for emerging visual computing applications and significantly reduce the need for costly add-in hardware components. The 21264 processor features motion video instruction sets (MVI), which allows DVD with AC3 playback and DVD recording via software -- as well as real-time MPEG II authoring on the desktop. MVI is written specifically for video and delivers greater simplicity and improved performance over Intel's MMX technology by reducing the number of calls for video functions.

"The demands that digital content creation places on the CPU is perhaps the most intense trial it receives -- it's no accident that many of our customers and partners are in the business of computer graphics and special effects," said Dr. Daeje Chin, CEO, Alpha Processor Inc. "We've designed Alpha with the stringent requirements of the graphics community in mind, and with the advanced MVI technology in our current processors we have a significant lead over the competition."

Industry Powerhouses Back Alpha

Industry leaders Compaq Corp., Microsoft Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co. have invested in the future of Alpha, lending support and expertise to ensure its success both now and in the future. Alpha benefits from manufacturer Samsung's leading-edge six-metal layer high-speed logic process, Compaq's established prowess in volume channel marketing, and Microsoft's Windows compatibility. Microsoft's inclusion of FX!32 translation technology in Windows NT 5.0 will allow 32-bit applications to run seamlessly on Alpha systems.

"Microsoft is excited about the enhanced customer choice that this new Alpha microprocessor will provide," said Jim Allchin, senior vice president of the Personal and Business Systems Group at Microsoft. "The fast growing acceptance of Windows NT Server and Windows NT Workstation in the special effects, multimedia content creation, video, and scientific marketplaces will demand very powerful systems."

"Compaq congratulates Alpha Processor, Inc. on the introduction of the 21264 third generation Alpha microprocessor. Alpha has an unprecedented history of performance and technology leadership, which will be extended by the 21264. We look forward to incorporating Alpha Processor solutions, including the 21264, into our portfolio of products to provide the best solutions to our customers. The graphics market has always been performance driven and Compaq is committed to providing best in class products to enable the industry to reach new heights," said Les Crudele, vice president and general manager of the Workstation Division at Compaq Computer Corporation.

"The engineering and manufacture of Alpha technologies is an area of emphasis for Samsung," said Dr. KP Suh, vice president at Samsung Electronics Company. "With partners like Microsoft, Compaq and Alpha Processor, Inc. the future is truly exciting for 64-bit technologies."

Features

The KP21264 processor/architecture features:

-- Out-of-order instruction execution

-- 64KB on-chip data and instruction caches

-- Powerful branch prediction through intuitive execution

-- High bandwidth for high-speed access to level 2 cache memory and system memory (up to 5GB bandwidth for L2-Cache)

-- Chipsets supported by more than four leading-edge vendors: uni, dual, quad and 24 or more

-- Industry open standard socket -- AMD K7 chipset support and Slot A interchangeability on the same motherboard

-- Scalable architecture based on cross-bar switch chipset implementations

-- Support for Windows NT, UNIX, LINUX and VMS

Pricing and Availability

The 21264 processor family includes the following offerings and price point quantities in 1000:

-- KP21264-600CN $5,500, Est. 40.0i SPECint95, 60.0 SPECfp95

-- KP21264-575CN $3,850 Est. 38.0i SPECint95, 57.5 SPECfp95

-- KP21264-500CN $2,750 Est. 33.3i SPECint95, 50.0 SPECfp95

-- KP21264-450CN $2,200 Est. 30.0i SPECint95, 45.0 SPECfp95