Intel-Lockheed jolt 3-D arena

Electronic News, May 20, 1996 by Sarah Cohen

Santa Clara, Calif.--Intel and Lockheed Martin changed the stakes in the ever-expanding 3-D market with the signing of a technology agreement to jointly develop a real-time, 3-D graphics chip. The chip will be based on the Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) interface specification created by Intel and last revised a few weeks ago. The new specification is an interconnect standard described as having a very-high-speed bus and high bandwidth.

Some analysts view Intel and Lockheed Martin's move into the ranks of 3-D graphics players as a "shock to the industry" due to Intel's dominance in anything it undertakes in the PC arena; some analysts also view this arrangement as strategy on the part of Intel to strengthen the marketing potential for Intel's Pentium Pro microprocessor.

Referring to the marketing of the Pentium Pro, Geoff Ballew, industry analyst for Dataquest, said: "High-speed 3-D needs a high-speed slot. You only get a high-speed slot, which is Intel's P6, if you buy a Pentium Pro with the right core logic. The combination Intel presents is compelling: a high-speed processor (the Pentium Pro), a high-speed port (the AGP) and rich 3-D graphics (the new chip). If someone just wants graphics, they still have to buy the faster processor anyway."

In Mr. Ballew's estimation, the shift Intel had hoped consumers would make from 16-to 32-bit code--in other words, from the Pentium to the Pentium Pro--has not yet come to fruition. But a 3-D graphics chip and 3-D graphics port will likely stimulate that shift, as will a reduction in the cost of the Pentium Pro, which Mr. Ballew said he anticipates.

Mark Kirstein, senior analyst for In-Stat, added: "It's not only a strategy on the part of Intel to sell the Pentium Pro but any microprocessor that follows on as well. Anything Intel does in the PC space is aimed at leveraging microprocessors."

Graphics and video accelerators suppliers S3, Cirrus Logic and ATI Technologies, Inc. jumped onto the AGP bandwagon with announcements of the development of AGP-compatible accelerators. S3 said that the company's upcoming ViRGE family of 3-D and Trio family of 2-D accelerators will support both AGP and Intel's MMX multimedia architecture as the next-generation accelerator platform. Cirrus Logic expects to begin sampling a family of AGP-compatible 3-D accelerators in the second half of 1996. And ATI will develop a range of 3-D, AGP-compatible accelerators to appear at Fall Comdex '96. The new Intel/Lockheed Martin 3-D chip itself isn't expected until the second half of 1997.

Commenting on the speed with which other graphics companies announced AGP-compatible accelerators, Mr. Kirstein said: "Intel's got control of standards to the point where if Intel says there a standard, everybody else says, 'Yes. It's a standard.' "

The disclosure comes in the wake of a mid-April announcement that Real3D, the subsidiary of Lockheed Martin working on the real-time 3D chip with Intel, entered into a development partnership with Chips & Technologies. In the arrangement between Intel and Lockheed Martin, Chips & Technologies will provide the 2-D portion of the technology embedded in the 3-D graphics chip that Real3D is developing with Intel.