The Antenna

Electronic News, Jan 31, 2000

Intel Spins New i820 Chipset

Intel Corp. is sampling a new version of the i820 (Camino) chipset supporting direct Rambus memory for PCs. The latest iteration supports three slots of Rambus in-line memory modules (RIMMs) on a motherboard. Numerous delays and design glitches have dogged the i820, originally slated for release in the first half of last year. The Intel chipset is key to Intel's plan to migrate the PC market to high-bandwidth Rambus memory. A source with Taiwan's Acer Group, who preferred to remain anonymous, commented that the new version of the i820 is an attempt to fix the technical difficulties of the existing Camino chipset. The new i820, he said, is intended to support "interim" motherboards that combine both Rambus RIMMs and SDRAM DIMMs (dual in-line memory modules). This time, the hope is that the new chipset will successfully support three RIMMs and two DIMMs. "In theory," the source said, "there is no reason why it should not." The current version of the i820 in the marketplace supports only two RIMMs. Intel is sampling the new version of the i820 to key accounts in Taiwan, including Acer and leading-edge motherboard manufacturer Asustek, according to sources here. The Taiwan sources say Intel will officially announce the new version of the i820 chipset between February and March this year.

Via's New Defender: AMD

Taiwan's Via Technologies Inc. may have found a new friend in a fellow Intel Corp. combatant, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD).According to unconfirmed reports, AMD will intervene on Via's behalf before the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), where Intel filed a complaint against Via last week, seeking to block the import of Via chipsets into the United States. Intel says Via's Apollo chipsets violate its patent on the P6 front-side bus. AMD is apparently worried that should Intel prevail before the ITC, its future products, possibly including a dual-processor Athlon supported by chipsets from Via, among others, could be jeopardized. No comment was immediately available from Via but an AMD spokesman disputed the report saying, "We have no current plans to intervene."

New RosettaNet President

Supply chain consortium RosettaNet is expected to name a new president this week. Former President Fadi Chehadé recently departed to form his own company, Viacore Inc., which was launched last week. RosettaNet, a non-profit company, is charged with creating a standard interface for companies in the business-to-business e-commerce arena. It is expected to roll out those interfaces over the course of this year.

Agile Moves

Agile Software Corp., San Jose, leveraging its November acquisition of Digital Market Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif., today issued a new version of Digital Buyer, the online procurement software developed by Digital Market. Renamed Agile Buyer 5.0, the enhanced sourcing and procurement product is now integrated with Agile Anywhere, Agile Software's product content management application suite. Agile Software is now extending its hosting services to include the Agile Anywhere product suite, as well as Agile Buyer. Also, Agile Software is expanding the MyAgile.com portal begun the first week of this year. A partnership agreement with SupplierMarket.com, Burlington, Mass., will extend SupplierMarket's custom part sourcing and procurement capability to users of the supply chain targeted portal. More partnering moves are likely.