| January 28, 1999 |
|
By Brooke Crothers
January 28, 1999
C/Net
|
The latest in super-fast silicon from
Intel, AMD, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Toshiba will be
previewed at one of the industry's leading chip
gatherings next month. At the 1999 IEEE International
Solid-State Circuits Conference next month, Intel will
discuss a 600-MHz version of the upcoming Pentium III
chip, while IBM will disclose a new breed of PowerPC chip
based on a cutting-edge production technique and a
600-MHz processor for server computers. The three-day
conference in San Francisco and San Jose starts on
February 15.
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By James Niccolai
January 28, 1999
InfoWorld Electric
|
Intel will gather hundreds of industry
partners and pull out all the stops at an event scheduled
for Feb. 17 in San Jose, Calif., where the chip giant
will show off the multimedia prowess of its forthcoming
Pentium III processor. "This will probably be the
largest thing we've ever put on, the largest thing we'll
do all year," said Intel spokeswoman Christine
Chartier-Morris. "I think it's going to be an
amazing show."
As reported previously by IDG News Service, Intel has
picked the February date to preview products optimized to
take advantage of new instructions in its Pentium III
processor that are designed to enhance 3-D graphics,
audio, video, speech recognition, and other functions.
The Pentium III was formerly known as Katmai.
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By Kristen Kenedy
January 27, 1999
Computer Retail Week
|
Although Intel introduced its first line
of Celeron processors for the mobile market Monday,
retailers probably won't see portables based on the new
CPUs in stores for a few months. The first Celeron
mobile CPUs will ship in 266-MHz and 300-MHz versions,
each with 128 kilobytes of Level 2 cache integrated on
the chip. The prices, $106 and $187, respectively, in
1,000 unit quantities, are on par with prices for current
Pentium II mobile CPUs in 233-MHz and 266-MHz
configurations, said Frank Spindler, vice president of
the Intel architecture business group and director of
marketing for the mobile and handheld products group.
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By Mike Magee
January 28, 1999
The Register
|
Alpha partner Samsung is now selling
fast processors for as little as $250, it has emerged. According
to confidential documents seen by The Register, .25
micron 533MHz Alphas will ramp to high volume in spring.
They currently cost $250/1000.
And when the 800MHz Alpha is released later on this
year, it will also be priced at the $250 volume mark.
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By Sandeep Junnarkar
January 28, 1999
C/Net
|
Today the world's dominant chipmaker,
Intel, announced that its board of directors has approved
a 2-for-1 stock split along with an increase in the
company's quarterly cash dividend first to be paid after
the stock split. Shares of Intel blasted 3.44 percent
higher in morning trading to 137.31. The stock has traded
as high as 143.69 and as low as 65.66 during the past 52
weeks.
Coming on the heels of splits by IBM, Microsoft, and
America Online this week, the stock market is likely to
get a shot of confidence.
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Editorial
January 28, 1999
San Jose Mercury News
|
THE furor over Intel's new chip shows
why the interests of privacy and security on the Internet
must be treated as one, not pitted against each other.
Otherwise, privacy will lose. At issue is the serial
number that Intel plans to embed in its forthcoming
Pentium III microprocessor. By establishing a computer's
unique identity, Intel's Processor Serial Number will
discourage software piracy and add a safeguard to
commerce on the Internet. Software can be written to run
only on the computer whose ID it recognizes. And Net
merchants can verify whom they are dealing with.
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| January 27, 1999 |
| Intel
Boycott Update |
|
By Michael Kanellos
January 26, 1999
C/Net
|
An Arizona state legislator next week
will introduce a bill that seeks to ban the sale or
manufacture of Pentium III processors in the state
because of complaints that a security feature in the
chips could threaten personal privacy. The chips
"can't be sold at all" under the proposed bill,
said State Rep. Steve May, a Republican who will
introduce the bill next week. "We want Intel to wake
up and recognize that it needs to be careful with privacy
issues."
|
See Boycott News for 01/26/99 See Boycott News for 01/25/99
|
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By Craig Matsumoto
January 27, 1999
EE Times
|
Concerns that the indentification number
Intel Corp. had planned to put on Pentium III processors
could have been used to track Web activity might have
been unfounded, as the ID mechanism masks the ID number
from any Web site requesting it, according to a security
expert who has worked with Intel. In fact, any two Web
sites verifying the number will get different results,
making it almost impossible to correlate their visitor
lists. The ID mechanism also would have operated outside
of Windows by using a proprietary software agent that was
intended to prevent "spoofing" of the ID
number.
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By Bruce Schneier
January 26, 1999
ZD Net News
|
Last Thursday Intel Corp. announced that
its new processor chips would come equipped with ID
numbers, a unique serial number burned into the chip
during manufacture. Intel said that this ID number will
help facilitate e-commerce, prevent fraud and promote
digital content protection. Unfortunately, it doesn't
do any of these things.
To see the problem, consider this analogy: Imagine
that every person was issued a unique identification
number on a national ID card. A person would have to show
this card in order to engage in commerce, get medical
care, whatever. Such a system works, provided that the
merchant, doctor, or whoever can examine the card and
verify that it hasn't been forged. Now imagine that the
merchants were not allowed to examine the card. They had
to ask the person for his ID number, and then accept
whatever number the person responded with. This system is
only secure if you trust what the person says.
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By Michael Kanellos
January 25, 1999
C/Net
|
Intel's plan to imprint serial numbers
onto microprocessors to encourage secure e-commerce isn't
catching on with the chip giant's competitors. National
Semiconductor, which owns microprocessor maker Cyrix,
today said that it will not put serial numbers on its
microprocessors. Instead, National will pursue
alternatives that may include tighter integration with
smart card technology.
Advanced Micro Devices, meanwhile, said that using
serial numbers is not in the company's plans, but that it
will respond to market wishes. Market leader Intel last
week ignited a flurry of opposition from privacy
advocates and computer users when it announced that its
next-generation Pentium III chip would come with a
distinct serial number.
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By Marcia Savage
January 26, 1999
Computer Reseller News
|
Privacy advocates said they will meet
with Intel Corp. on Thursday about the serial numbers
planned for the upcoming Pentium III chip, but will
continue their boycott of the chip giant despite Intel's
decision to alter the security feature. Meanwhile,
Intel's rivals are taking a low-key approach to the
controversial issue and resellers are cool to the idea.
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By Stephanie Miles
January 26, 1999
C/Net
|
Less than a week before kickoff, Intel
has pulled its ads from the Super Bowl XXXIII lineup,
saying it prefers to wait to air the Pentium III
commercials, even though the network says the company is
still on the hook for air time. Intel informed Fox
Sports today that the short tradition of half-time
commercials featuring the processor giant's bunny people
and mystery spoofs has come to an end, the parties
confirmed.
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| Today's Other x86 News |
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By Mike Magee
January 27, 1999
The Register
|
Intel has confirmed it is still on
schedule to ship Merced in the year 2000 with production
samples going to its customers in June. That follows
claims from an Alpha developer on the comp.archnews forum
that the Merced platform is dead.
According to the engineer, IA-64 has a number of
features which will be very hard to implement.
Predication, he says, is very complex with multiple
outstanding loads which depend on the memory consistency
model being used.
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By Mike Magee
January 27, 1999
The Register
|
Cyrix said today its plans for its
Jalapeno platform remain unchanged but it did confirm
that it will produce a standalone version. However, it
is likely to be next year before the wonder-chip appears.
A representative said: "There's no change in our
strategy. Cyrix will sample Jalapeno in Q4 of this
year."
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By Linda Harrison
January 27, 1999
The Register
|
Intel has said it expects to receive an
explanation from components distributor Avnet, following
allegations that three of its sales staff were suspended
for making bogus price protection claims. The chip
giant said it expects a report from Avnet by tomorrow
outlining what has happened and explaining what remedies
Avnet plans to put in place.
The employees at Avnet's PCC components division in
Stevenage allegedly broke seals on Intel processor
packages and replaced Intel chips with grey product,
according to this week's PC Dealer.
|
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| January 26, 1999 |
| Intel
Boycott Update |
|
By Robert MacMillan
January 25, 1999
Newsbytes
|
The boycott announced against Intel
Corp. [NASDAQ:INTC] products will persist, at least for
now, in spite of that chipmaker's statement earlier today
that the company would not send out its Pentium III
processors with a new tracking technology in a
permanently "turned on" position. Several
privacy rights lobbying associations, including the
Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and
Junkbusters Corp., said that their boycott, which they
announced today, will continue.
|
See Today's Related Stories See Yesterday's Related Stories
|
|
January 25, 1999
ZD Net News
|
Intel Corp. has blinked in the face of a
growing controversy over its plans to include ID
technology in new chips. Even as several advocacy
groups were calling for a boycott of Intel products, the
company announced Monday it is backtracking somewhat in
how the technology, which could be used to track chip
users over the Internet, will be deployed.
|
|
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By Dan Gillmor
Mercury News Technology Columnist
January 26, 1999
San Jose Mercury News
|
A LITTLE more than four years ago, Intel
Corp. danced into a public-relations buzz saw when it
laughed off PC users' worries about a calculation bug in
the then-new Pentium microprocessor. The company
ultimately did the right thing when it offered to replace
the errant chips, no questions asked. On Monday, Intel
began to remedy another callous corporate decision. It
backed off, to a degree, from its ill-founded plan to put
an identification system into its upcoming Pentium III
chips.
The differences in Intel's approach from late 1994 to
early 1999 show a company that has developed more
sophisticated public-relations methods. Unfortunately,
Monday's action also shows that the company hasn't yet
grasped some essential facts about consumers.
|
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| Today's Other x86 News |
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By Jim Davis
January 25, 1999
C/Net
|
A boatload of new notebooks are coming
with the arrival of faster processors from Intel, but a
planned boycott could steal the limelight from what would
otherwise be a fairly routine product announcement. Intel
rolled out new Pentium II chips for notebooks running at
clock speeds of 266 MHz, 300 MHz, 333 MHz, and 366 MHz
with an integrated cache that will boost their
performance past standard Pentium IIs, as expected. The
first Celeron chips, which will find a home in
entry-level notebooks, were also introduced today at 266
MHz and 300 MHz. The company also released a new, third,
type of package for notebook chips that will allow
computer makers to shave even more weight from their
systems.
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By Mark Hachman
January 25, 1999
Electronic Buyers' News
|
After challenging end users to
distinguish between a “Celeron” and
“Celeron A” microprocessor, OEMs must now
explain what Intel Corp.'s new “Pentium II PE”
is. Intel's branding strategy took another awkward turn
today, as the chip company attempted to persuade buyers
to purchase new, enhanced low-power microprocessors at
speeds identical to its existing chips. Intel introduced
new versions of the mobile Pentium II with on-chip cache,
while simultaneously introducing mobile PC users to the
Celeron brand.
|
See
Today's Related Stories |
|
By Sandy Chen
January 25, 1999
Electronic Buyers' News
|
Putting an end to any possible IP
conflict with Intel Corp., Taiwan chipset maker Silicon
Integrated Systems Corp. (SIS) has licenses Intel's
"P6bus" micro architecture. Under the
agreement, the Taipei-based SIS may build and sell
core-logic chip sets for Intel's Pentium II
microprocessors using Intel's "Slot 1"
architecture. SIS will sell certain versions of its chip
set family designed to use the P6 bus, paying Intel
royalties on the products licensed. In addition, Intel
has also licensed certain undisclosed patents from SIS.
|
See
Today's Related Stories |
|
By John Lettice
January 25, 1999
The Register
|
Microsoft played an unexpected good
fairy role in the adoption of AMD's 3DNow! graphics
technology. But then Bill Gates went and spoiled it all
by suggesting he'd dump the technology if Intel dumped
Java. AMD had explained what Microsoft was then
describing as "3DX" to Microsoft executives in
early 1997, against a background of continuing
deterioration in the relationship between Intel and
Microsoft. Jim Allchin wrote to Bill Gates and Paul
Maritz: "During the meeting we discussed some new
instructions that AMD wants us to support called AMD 3DX.
The instructions (about 24 new opcodes) are very focused
to make games fast."
|
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January 25, 1999
Semiconductor Business News
|
Integrated Device Technology Inc. will
sell its San Jose fab to Cadence Design Systems Inc. as
part of its restructuring plan, the company said here
today. The transaction will be completed by April, and
financial details of the deal have not been disclosed. "The
closure of IDT's San Jose facility allows the company to
manufacture with greater efficiency by streamlining
production facilities and reducing time-to-market for
products which require new fabrication processes."
said Alan Krock, IDT's chief financial officer.
|
See
Today's Related Stories |
|
By Mike Magee
January 25, 1999
The Register
|
Hungarian, Dutch and Italian journalists
have also come in for special treatment according to
Intel press guidelines. And Polish, Scandinavian and
South African journalists are also treated in a document
The Register has seen.
According to the document, which unfortunately we were
only shown at a Computer Trade Show in Birmingham last
week, so had to take detailed notes, "political
issues" must be avoided when dealing with Hungarian
hacks. Price and reliability, however, will capture their
hearts.
|
|
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By Craig Matsumoto
January 25, 1999
EE Times
|
Programmable logic vendor DynaChip Corp.
has produced a PCI core that executives say is the first
to draw the full bandwidth potential out of the 66-MHz,
64-bit PCI bus. The DynaCore PCI66, initially
implemented on DynaChip's DY6055 FPGA, is a soft core
that eliminates wait states, effectively doubling the
speed of data that can be drawn off the bus. The part is
being targeted at networking applications.
Most PCI chips for the 66-MHz, 64-bit bus include a
wait state to compensate for chips that are unable to
keep up with the bus speed. In particular, a 66-MHz PCI
interface has certain paths that must meet a 3-ns delay.
If a chip can't meet that spec, a wait state is
introduced to move data through in two clock cycles
instead of one. This halves the chip speed but increases
the critical delay to 6 ns — “it buys them some
extra time,” said Eric Fleischman, vice president of
marketing for DynaChip (Sunnyvale, Calif.).
|
|
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By Crista Souza
January 25, 1999
Electronic Buyers' News
|
As 64-bit, 66-MHz PCI rapidly becomes
the bus of choice for bandwidth-hungry networking
applications, PLD suppliers are clamoring to fill a void
in the market for chips supporting it. Having overcome
many of the performance barriers in implementing PCI in a
software format, vendors are now unleashing a barrage of
PCI cores, targeting production in the first quarter.
While 75% of PCI demand is still for 33-MHz designs,
66-MHz will account for half of all PLDs using the
technology within the year, predicted Ken O'Neill,
product marketing manager for Actel Corp., Sunnyvale,
Calif.
|
|
| Today's
Related Stories |
|
By Dan Briody and Ephraim Schwartz
January 25, 1999
InfoWorld Electric
|
Intel introduced six new mobile chips
Monday, two based on the concept of the Celeron with less
cache and lower cost to system OEMs. The other four
Pentium II processors are being designated Performance
Enhanced (PE) because their newly integrated Level 2
cache provides an added speed boost, Intel officials
said. The PE Pentium II processors include 266-MHz,
300-MHz, 333-MHz, and 366-MHz versions.
PE Pentium II have 256KB integrated or on-die Level 2
cache, as opposed to the 512KB Level 2 cache on regular
Pentium IIs, which is external to the processor package.
The on-die cache is able to perform at the same speed as
the processor; external cache runs at half the speed.
|
|
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By Andy Patrizio
January 25, 1999
TechWeb
|
Intel introduced Monday four more mobile
processors -- stratifying the two different chip lines
along low-end and high-end models. The new chips --
333-MHz and 366-MHz Pentium II chips, and 266-MHz and
300-MHz Celeron chips -- are designed for two different
strata on notebooks. The full Pentium II chips will take
over where the 233-MHz, 266-MHz, and 300-MHz Pentium II
chips left off, while the Celerons target the low-end
laptop market.
Dean McCarron, hardware analyst with Mercury Research,
said he doesn't think there will be confusion caused by
all of the new Intel chips. Each notebook vendor
integrates the components that best suit its needs into
its product lines, he said.
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By Michael Kanellos
January 25, 1999
C/Net
|
Silicon Integrated Systems has landed a
licensing deal with Intel that will further open up the
PC component market as well as potentially weaken the
case being prepared by the Federal Trade Commission. The
deal itself is fairly straightforward, but could have
fairly far-reaching implications, as previously reported.
Under the terms of the agreement, Taiwan-based SiS
obtains the right to make chipsets that are compatible
with the Intel "P6" architecture, a core
element of Celeron, Pentium II and Pentium III-based PCs.
The chipset is one of the crucial components of a PC and
server computers, as the communications conduit for data
between the processor and other PC components.
|
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|
January 25, 1999
Electronic Buyers' News
|
In line with its previous announcement,
Integrated Device Technology Inc. said it has sold it San
Jose fab. The Santa Clara, Calif semiconductor
supplier said today that it sold the facility to Cadence
Design Systems Inc. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The decommissioning of the facility, which is adjacent
to Cadence's worldwide headquarters, is expected to be
completed in April. The site will be used as additional
office space for Cadence.
|
|
| Today's other Intel Boycott News |
|
By Will Wade
January 26, 1999
Semiconductor Business News
|
Intel Corp. said here today it would
bend to concerns raised by several national privacy
watchdog organizations, and modify a security feature on
its upcoming Pentium III device. The chip will include
a unique serial number embedded into the hardware and
designed to be used to add security to online
transactions, but Pentium III-based systems will also
include a software utility to turn this feature on and
off. While initially, the device was scheduled to ship
with the serial number in the "on" position, a
company spokesman said today that all Pentium III systems
will now be manufactured with the processor serial number
in the "off" setting.
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By Elinor Mills
January 25, 1999
InfoWorld Electric
|
At the suggestion of privacy groups who
are threatening a boycott of Intel products, Intel on
Monday announced that it will ship its Pentium III
microprocessors with the identification code in the
"off" position and offer software that will
allow users to turn the code on if they want to do so. Shipping
the processors with the ID code in the de-activated
default position gives users the choice of whether they
want their systems to be tracked -- for instance, in the
case of computer theft -- or for user verification in
electronic commerce.
Intel will provide a control utility, which is
software that will enable users to activate or
de-activate the ID code, said Howard High, an Intel
spokesman. Initially, the company said it would ship the
processors with the code activated and users could
de-activate it at will.
|
|
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By Mary Mosquera
January 26, 1999
TechWeb
|
A boycott targeting Intel products has
not been lifted, despite the chip maker's announcement
that it will offer consumers the choice to deactivate
controversial technology that identifies users as they
move around the Internet, said a civil-liberties group
Monday. The ID code reduces the privacy of consumers
online, said the Electronic Privacy Information Center,
the group initiating the boycott. Intel said the
technology improves security of online transactions, and
consumers have the choice to use it or not.
|
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By Janet Rae-Dupree
January 26, 1999
San Jose Mercury News
|
Privacy: Company to alter software to
let consumers disable ID code embedded in new Pentium III
until the user turns it on. Intel Corp. tried to dodge
a public relations bullet Monday by moving quickly to
ease privacy concerns about its plan to embed an
identifying code number within each of its
next-generation chips.
While the Santa Clara chip giant would not agree to
delete the codes from the Pentium III chips it plans to
release next month, Intel did announce plans to alter
software so that the identification feature would be
turned off until a consumer voluntarily took steps to
turn it on.
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By Rick Boyd-Merritt
January 26, 1999
EE Times
|
Two privacy groups are calling for a
consumer boycott against all Intel Corp. products to
protest the company's plans to embedded unique processor
ID numbers in all Pentium III chips. Junkbusters Inc.,
based here, and the Electronic Privacy Information Center
(Epic, Wash.) hope to raise a consumer backlash against
the plan and force Intel to scrap or redesign parts that
are already sampling to major computer makers.
Jason Catlett, president and founder of Junkbusters, a
group dedicated to consumer online privacy, said the call
for a boycott came after private efforts to dissuade
Intel from its security plans failed. "We started
contacting Intel in December when we heard they would be
using a processor serial number on the Pentium III, and
we have not been able to persuade them that this is a bad
idea for consumer privacy," said Catlett. "All
the privacy advocates are against this."
|
|
| January 25, 1999 |
| Intel
Boycott Special News 01/25/99 |
| Background to the Boycott |
|
By Craig Matsumoto
January 21, 1999
EE Times
|
Convinced that encryption and network
security will be required to realize the dream of
connecting PCs worldwide, Intel Corp. will begin
incorporating security features into its hardware. The
company's first steps, outlined at the RSA'99 conference
of RSA Data Security Inc., will be a unique ID number for
every Pentium III microprocessor that Intel ships, and
the ability to generate purely random numbers in
hardware. Much as the company encouraged the
development of sophisticated graphics applications on the
PC, it plans to prod the industry to develop ubiquitous
security across a PC-based network. That's a relatively
recent push within Intel, driven by the realization that
its vision of connecting PCs worldwide could never work
without ways to secure those networks, said Patrick
Gelsinger, vice president of Intel (Santa Clara, Calif.).
|
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By Tim Clark
January 20, 1999
C/Net
|
Elaborating on plans to build security
into its chips and other hardware, Intel today outlined
its vision for "creating the trusted PC,"
building on the widespread acknowledgement that putting
security in hardware, rather than software, is more
robust. Patrick Gelsinger, group vice president of
Intel's desktop products group, also detailed the giant
chipmaker's stepped-up lobbying on privacy and government
controls on exporting strong encryption.
|
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By Matthew Nelson
January 19, 1999
InfoWorld Electric
|
While RSA and other security companies
are using the RSA Data Security Conference to discuss
security and new products, the real buzz here at the show
this week is a deal between RSA and Intel to build
security directly into chips and streamline security
applications for those chips. RSA announced here it is
working with the chip giant to cross-license key security
technologies that are designed to let Intel and RSA
deliver enhancements to their respective products. The
companies will then co-market the products and RSA
intends to produce enhanced BSafe Crypto-C and Crypto J
software developers kit that are optimized for Intel's
planned security hardware features by mid year.
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By Marcia Savage
January 22, 1999
Computer Reseller News
|
Intel Corp. on Thursday offered more
details about its security development plans, including
the processor serial numbers it will add to its CPUs when
it launches the Pentium III. At a press briefing here,
Patrick Gelsinger, vice president and general manager of
Intel's desktop products group, expanded on his keynote
address Wednesday at the RSA Data Security show in San
Jose, Calif. Earlier in the week, Intel and RSA announced
a codevelopment and cross-licensing deal in which they
will collaborate on new security-enhanced chips and
software.
|
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By Robert Lemos
January 20, 1999
ZD Net News
|
Intel Corp. will unveil plans to embed
identification numbers in its PC processors on Thursday,
according to industry insiders and cryptographers
familiar with the company's efforts. In doing so, the
Santa Clara, Calif., chip maker could be sounding the
death knell for anonymity on the Internet.
"The application is a double-edged sword. On the
one hand it offers more security -- for e-commerce and
information security," said Barry Steinhardt,
associate director and privacy expert at the American
Civil Liberties Union. "As a pure privacy issue, it
allows for a means of tracking individuals on the
Net."
|
|
| The Resulting Firestorm |
|
By Michael Kanellos and Tim Clark
January 22, 1999
C/Net
|
The security codes to be embedded in
Intel's Pentium III processor can potentially be misused
to identify and collect data on Web surfers, some privacy
advocates warn. But Intel argues that the technology will
actually make the Net a safer place. The controversy
has emerged as 30 Web sites prepare to conduct trials of
the processor, to be released in February. Critics claim
that the number scheme can be used to monitor the
Internet habits of virtually anyone with a modern,
Intel-based computer.
|
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|
By Polly Sprenger
January 22, 1999
Wired News
|
Intel Thursday said that its
next-generation processors include a feature that will
identify online users as they traverse the Web. Intel
says its Processor Serial Number Control utility will
protect e-commerce transactions. When the feature is
activated, the computer's identifier can be matched
against the sensitive information the user inputs,
validating the exchange. Intel (INTC) also claims that
the new utility will make pirating software more
difficult.
|
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By Tim Clark
January 22, 1999
C/Net
|
A senior U.S. Congressman has written
Intel CEO Craig Barrett, expressing concerns that Intel's
plan to put serial numbers on its next-generation Pentium
chips raises serious privacy issues. Intel says the
letter is based on a misunderstanding of the company's
intent and technology. The office of U.S.
Representative Edward J. Markey, D-Massachusetts, the
ranking Democrat on the House Telecommunications, Trade
and Consumer Protection Subcommittee, today released the
text of the letter.
|
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By Charlotte Dunlap
January 20, 1999
Computer Reseller News
|
Pat Gelsinger, vice president of Intel's
desktop products group, slammed the U.S. government's
role in maintaining a cap on exportable levels of
encryption, while preaching the benefits of lodging
additional security into hardware over software. In a
keynote address Wednesday at the RSA Data Security show
here, Gelsinger laid out a three-year road map for
Intel's development plans with RSA, Redwood City, Calif.
|
|
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By Robert MacMillan
January 18, 1999
Newsbytes
|
Intel Corp. does not plan to go into its
battle against Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
anti-competition charges without back-up. The
microprocessor giant confirmed it has has hired former
White House Counsel John M. Quinn and former Congressman
Butler Derrick, D-S.C., for Capitol Hill lobbying
purposes, an Intel spokesperson said. The spokesman,
Chuck Mulloy, told Newsbytes that the hires are not
designed specifically to help the company's cause in its
defense against the FTC, but "the whole FTC thing
was a catalyst for this effort."
|
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January 25, 1999
ZD Net News
|
Privacy groups are scheduled to announce
a boycott Monday of products made by Intel Corp.
following news the company plans registration technology
in future Pentiums that could identify consumers on the
Internet. The boycott was called by the
Washington-based Electronic Privacy Information Center, a
consumer advocacy group, and Junkbusters Inc., of Green
Brook, N.J., a high-tech lobbying group.
Intel did not immediately respond today.
|
|
|
January 25, 1999
Wired News
|
Privacy activists are calling for a
boycott against Intel (INTC) because of the company's
recently announced plans to ship a new generation of
chips that will make it possible to identify Net users as
they travel the Web. The boycott was called by
Junkbusters, a New Jersey firm dedicated to fighting all
sorts of commercial intrusions into consumers' lives, and
the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a watchdog
group focused on making sure personal privacy is
safeguarded as technology evolves.
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By Mike Magee
January 25, 1999
The Register
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AMD is showing marked reluctance to
follow Intel's lead in putting serial numbers in its
chips. That emerged after Cyrix spokespersons in the
US said they would follow Intel's lead with
the Pentium !!! (Katmai).
According to US reports, National Semiconductor, which
owns x.86 clone company Cyrix, is following Intel's lead,
knowing that it does not pose a security threat to end
users.
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| Intel's Response |
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By Robert Lemos
January 21, 1999
ZD Net News
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PC chip giant Intel Corp. has confirmed
reports that it would start shipping processors with
embedded serial numbers, starting with the Pentium III
later this quarter. "There are two elements here:
Security and privacy," said Howard High, spokesman
for the chipmaker. "Security is inherently good, but
at the cost of some privacy." The chip ID plan is
expected to make e-commerce more secure, but has privacy
advocates worried that anonymity on the Internet might be
at risk.
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By Mike Magee
January 24, 1999
The Register
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Intel has denied that security it is
building into future versions of its microprocessors will
be used to track net usage. But its denial follows a
barrage of complaints from end users, and concern has
also been expressed by US politicians.
Last September, we exclusively reported from the Intel
Developer Forum that the company
was building up to 10 primitives in a bid to make the
market more secure for e-commerce.
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By Robert Lemos
January 22, 1999
ZD Net News
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Addressing privacy concerns, Intel Corp.
stated Thursday it was being extremely careful in
implementing its new processor ID number scheme. The
plan was announced Wednesday at the RSA Data Security
conference in San Jose, and more details were given in a
technology briefing here on Thursday. As part of its new
initiative to create a connected world of trusted PCs,
Intel has incorporated a number of security initiatives,
including a random number generator and marking
electronically every processor with a unique serial
number.
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By Mike Magee
January 25, 1999
The Register
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Chip giant Intel now says that OEMs will
have the ability to switch off a registration number
embedded in Pentium III chips. That means the Compaqs,
Dells and HPs of this world could ship product without
antagonising US privacy groups. There is already an
ability to switch off the identification number using
software shipping with PCs.
The move follows a growing controversy in the United
States over a potential threat to privacy.
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By Michael Kanellos
January 22, 1999
C/Net
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Vibrating atoms are the key to an
upcoming encryption strategy from Intel that will make it
dramatically harder for hackers to crack confidential
transactions and messages, the company said yesterday. As
announced this week, Intel will embed a random-number
generator into the Pentium III processor that will be far
superior to the software-based random-number generators
currently in use because it depends upon the reaction of
particles inside the processor at a particular point in
time, said Pat Gelsinger, corporate vice president of the
Desktop Products Group. This could lead to a wider
acceptance of encryption, he said.
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| Today's Other x86 News |
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By Jim Davis
January 25, 1999
C/Net
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A boatload of new notebooks are coming
with the arrival of faster processors from Intel, but a
planned boycott could steal the limelight from what would
otherwise be a fairly routine product announcement. Intel
rolled out new Pentium II chips for notebooks running at
clock speeds of 300 MHz to 366 MHz, as expected. The
first Celeron chips, which will find a home in
entry-level notebooks, were also introduced today.
While the new processors should help Intel keep its
solid grip on the market for notebook chips,
controversial technology slated for next generation
desktop chips threatens to take attention away from
today's announcement.
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January 25, 1999
Semiconductor Business News
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Silicon Integrated Systems Corp. here
today said it has inked a licensing agreement with Intel
Corp. for chip-set products that are compatible with the
P6 bus microprocessor architecture. The pact is intended
to end concerns over the use of Intel's P6 technology,
according to SiS managers. Under the agreement,
Taiwan's SiS is granting Intel access to its patents, and
it will pay the royalties to the microprocessor giant on
products using the P6 bus architecture. Specific details
of those payments were not disclosed.
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By John Lettice
January 23, 1999
The Register
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Intel may be planning to use Katmai and
IA-64 technology in a patent infringement campaign
against its rivals and OEMs, according to Paul Maritz. In
his deposition for the antitrust trial, released
yesterday, the Microsoft group VP for platforms and
applications points to Intel's failure to renew a deal
first struck between the companies over the Pentium Pro. This
deal was a "legally binding... reciprocal covenant
not to sue each other's customers, thus enabling Intel
Pentium Pro processors to be used with non-Microsoft
software, and compatible non-Intel processors." The
conclusion of this agreement had stemmed from Intel's use
of its US Patent No. 4,972338, "Memory Management
for Microprocessor System," during the early 90s.
Intel had gone for Cyrix and AMD, and then for Twinhead:
"Twinhead was using microprocessors manufactured by
a company under license from Intel," says Maritz.
"Nevertheless, Intel alleged that Twinhead's
installation of Windows on personal computers built on
these microprocessors induced infringement of Intel's
'338 patent."
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By John Lettice
January 25, 1999
The Register
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Intel and Microsoft were locked in
wrangles over NSP and Java in 1995-96, and Microsoft has
denied pressuring Intel to drop NSP and downplay Java.
But internal Intel and Microsoft documentation from the
period points to a situation rather different from what
either company has been claiming - basically, they were
wrangling over intellectual property. This casts a
rather different light on Paul Maritz's suggestion in his
deposition (Intel could sue OEMs over Katmai, IA-64 that
Intel has been extending its IP control from MMX onwards
so that it will be able to sue rival CPU companies. The
Microsoft documentation does indeed strongly suggest that
this is the case - but it also makes it clear that
Microsoft was prepared to help Intel do so, if the terms
were right.
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Where's
Willamette?
In a Sea of New Processors, Intel's
Next Generation Is Not to Be Found
By Linley Gwennap
January 25, 1999
Microprocessor Report
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Intel has always been a company of
engineers, run by engineers. Even the CEOs have PhDs.
Intel's dominance of the x86 processor market is due in
no small part to the company's continued technical
superiority over its competitors. Every time the
competition showed signs of catching up, Intel introduced
better technology. The 486. Pentium. The P6. MMX. The
beat goes on. Intel's pace of innovation has slowed
lately, and at just the wrong time, because AMD has
started to innovate on its own. AMD's first innovation,
3DNow, beat Intel's Katmai New Instructions (KNI) to
market by nine months. AMD's next effort, the K7, appears
at least a year ahead of Intel's seventh-generation
processor, code-named Willamette. How did AMD beat Intel
to the punch?
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By Bloomberg News
January 22, 1999
C/Net
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Intel's share of the microprocessor
market fell to 75.7 percent in the fourth quarter as
rival Advanced Micro Devices stole business with its
cheaper products, a research firm said. The No. 1
chipmaker's market share slipped from 87.1 percent in the
fourth quarter of 1997, according to preliminary numbers
from International Data Corporation. AMD's share rose to
15.5 percent from 6.6 percent in the year-earlier
quarter, IDC said.
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By Mike Magee
January 25, 1999
The Register
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AMD confirmed it is in the final stages
of producing silicon at its Fab 30 plant in Dresden,
Germany. According to a senior PR officer at the fab,
Dresden started production of K7 silicon on the first of
November. He said: "We are now in the final testing
stages."
He confirmed: "The products we will produce in
Dresden are the K7s. Sharptooth and other K6 products
will be produced in Austin, Texas."
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By Ron Wilson
January 22, 1999
EE Times
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Intel Corp. will roll out a new
collection of CPUs for mobile computing on Monday, (Jan.
25) that will include both Pentium and, for the first
time, Celeron processors optimized for use in notebook
computers. In an emerging trend, operating frequencies
for the new mobile chips will be very close to or even
identical to the speeds of the comparable desktop CPUs,
despite the mobile chips' emphasis on low power. The
mobile processors will be built using the company's
workhorse 0.25-micron process, will operate at the low
end of the planned voltage range and will run at up to
300 MHz, according to company sources.
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By Darren Gladstone
January 25, 1999
PC Week Online
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Intel Corp. this week will unveil the
fastest mobile Pentium II processors and its first mobile
chips bearing the Celeron brand name. The Santa Clara,
Calif., company will debut 333MHz and 366MHz Pentium
IIs--formerly code-named Dixon and now called Pentium II
Enhanced--as well as 266MHz and 300MHz Celerons.
Most major PC makers are prepared to announce new
notebooks based on the chips, although product
availability will be staggered over the next few weeks.
Compaq Computer Corp., Dell Computer Corp., Gateway Inc.
and IBM are expected to be among the first to release new
notebooks based on the chips.
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By Mike Magee
January 22 1999
The Register
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A complex dress code devised by Intel is
set to antagonise journalists in Spain, Russia (CIS) and
Israel. According to a document The Register saw
yesterday, journalists from the former Soviet Union
should be approached in the same way as UK and US
journalists. (Story: Grove's Intel attacks UK journalism)
That means that Intel thinks journalists from Russia,
the US and the UK are tarred with the same brush.
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See Related
Stories Intel's
Grove attacks UK journalism
Euro
journalists get Intel treatment
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January 25, 1999
Semiconductor Business News
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Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.
today announced that will port the Rambus ASIC Cell (RAC)
to its 0.25-micron logic process. The high-performance,
high-bandwidth "Rambus memory technology is
becoming a valued element in high-performance
systems," said Magnus Ryde, president of TSMC USA in
San Jose. "TSMC's customers will be able to smoothly
integrate Rambus interface technology into their
designs."
TSMC and Rambus plan to port the RAC to the TSMC
0.25-micron logic process by April for silicon
verification and characterization. Rambus will supply its
customers with the RAC megacell for incorporation into
product designs that will be manufactured by TSMC.
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