Conference 7.286::digital

The article about BP says:

 "A potential deal with Compaq to deliver Alpha-based workstations is said to be
in the offing*.

Anyone heard about this?  I never read about it anywhere else before.

/Mario

I keep seeing rumors about this from outside Digital - if it WERE true, I
would not expect to hear anything internally without a "need to know", since
negotiations of this nature are always sensitive.

				Steve

    This may shed some light on the Digital and Compaq workstation rumors. 
    While having a late lunch in my executive (rather, Home) office, I had
    CNBC on.  The reporter, speaking live from outside the site of the
    Comdex show in Las Vegas, reported that he had just spoken with Bob
    Palmer about an announcement Digital would be having with Oracle (read
    on for the possible tie-in to Compaq.)  Per the reporter, Digital was
    prepared to offer its StrongARM chip set (stripped down Alpha) for use
    by up to 50 manufacturers to make, immediately, the approximately $500
    Internet workstation that everyone has been talking about.  From what
    the reporter was saying, Bob told him that we were prepared to start
    shipping sample chips immediately, which could conceivably include the
    Compaqs of the world.
    
    The reporter distanced the Digital announcement from those that have
    sounded vaguely similiar as of late, especially from IBM and others. 
    Whereas the others are speaking of having a "universal $500 Internet
    box" available sometime in the future, Digital appeared to the reporter
    to be advancing the date in to the immediate future.  He stated that
    all Comdex was abuzz at this info, since it may be bringing the masses
    into the Internet age.
    
    Chuck

    Hmmm.
    
    StrongARM is not what I'd call a stripped down Alpha. They are both
    RISC chips but that's where the similarity ends. StrongARM's target
    market is described briefly in the attached press release which is in
    VTX IR, document ID PR004K.
    
    It's hard to see a Compaq connection here. But I've been surprised
    before. There may be a "set-top-box" connection, but last time I
    looked, that market was dominated by chips capable of running OS/9.
    
    Hit Next Unseen to skip 150-line press release if these things offend
    you...
    
    be seeing you
    john

    								CORP/95/799


            DIGITAL AND ARM ANNOUNCE AGREEMENT TO DEVELOP
           HIGH-SPEED, LOW-POWER, ARM-COMPLIANT PROCESSORS

...World's Performance Leader Teams with Power-Efficiency Leader...

MAYNARD, Mass. and Cambridge, UK -- February 6, 1995 -- Digital
Equipment Corporation and Advanced RISC Machines Ltd (ARM) today 
announced the licensing of the ARM RISC architecture to Digital 
Semiconductor for the development of high-performance, low power 
microprocessors. The StrongARM family of 32-bit RISC products to be 
developed under the agreement is intended to complement and broaden 
the existing ARM product line for performance critical applications 
such as:

     o 	next-generation personal digital assistants (PDAs) with 
        improved user interfaces and communications,
     o 	interactive TV and set-top products,
     o 	video games and multimedia 'edutainment' systems with
       	realistic imaging, motion and sound, and
     o 	digital imaging, including low cost digital image capture 
        and photo-quality scanning and printing.


     Combining Digital's proven leadership in high performance
microprocessor design and manufacture with ARM's expertise in low 
power design, will result in processors that set a new standard for 
high performance while meeting the low power, space and cost 
requirements of products such as handheld devices.  The StrongARM 
family will offer full software compatibility with the ARM6, 7 and 8 
chip families, which will help accelerate market acceptance of the 
new products.

Strengthens Merchant Vendor and Performance Commitment
     "For Digital Semiconductor, this is a strategic agreement 
that both reinforces our merchant vendor role and demonstrates 
performance leadership," said Ed Caldwell, vice president and 
general manager of Digital Semiconductor.  "Today, our Alpha 
products provide unmatched performance for desktop and server 
applications.  The StrongARM product line will complement this 
strategy with its focus on enhancing performance for mass-market 
applications in which very low power dissipation is critical."
     "This agreement with ARM also gives us early entry into
rapidly growing, high volume markets,"  Caldwell added.  Industry 
analysts estimate that the market for 32-bit RISC embedded consumer 
applications will grow 75 percent year over year to more than 10.5 
million in 1998 (InStat October 1994).
   
Performance is Key
     According to Robin Saxby, Managing Director & CEO of ARM, 
"Having Digital Semiconductor jointly design and build new 
processors compliant with the ARM architecture will add momentum 
to ARM's acceptance as the volume RISC standard for 32-bit 
applications.  ARM processors already have the best ratios of  
performance to power consumption and cost (MIPS/Watt and MIPS/$).  
The agreement with Digital will maintain our lead in these areas 
while allowing us to pursue applications demanding very high 
absolute performance," Saxby said. 
     Shane Robison, vice president and general manager of Apple 
Computer, Inc.'s Personal Interactive Electronics Division, said 
Apple was an early adopter of ARM microprocessor technology and had 
incorporated the ARM 610 processor into its market-leading Newton 
MessagePad PDA. 
     "Apple's Newton engineering team has been working closely with 
Digital Semiconductor and ARM in defining the first StrongARM 
microprocessor.  This design looks to significantly boost compute 
performance while retaining the low power characteristic of ARM 
microprocessors, both of which are critical in designing high 
performance PDAs." 
     "This relationship looks to be a perfect strategic fit," said 
Jerry Banks, Director/Principal Analyst, Dataquest. "ARM gains 
access to high performance microprocessor design and process 
technology, while Digital gains ARM's expertise in low power design, 
as well as access to high volume markets with significant potential.  
The resulting products could have a far-reaching effect on many 
emerging consumer applications like PDAs, interactive TV, and 
games."

First Product in Development Today
     The first product in the StrongARM family is currently under 
development at Digital Semiconductor's Palo Alto, California, and 
Austin, Texas, research centers and ARM's Cambridge, UK 
headquarters.  Digital expects the device to be among the first 
products manufactured at its new FAB 6 state-of-the-art chip 
fabrication facility in Hudson, Massachusetts.
     The products developed under the agreement will be sold through 
Digital Semiconductor's sales channels.  In addition, "processors 
and processor cores developed under this agreement will be available 
for licensing to other semiconductor partners," added Saxby.  
"This is consistent with our strategy of making the ARM architecture 
an open standard for performance oriented, power-efficient and cost-
effective applications."
     ARM designs, licenses and markets fast, low cost, low power 
consumption RISC processors for embedded control, consumer/
educational multimedia, DSP and portable applications.  ARM licenses 
its enabling technology to semiconductor partner companies, who 
focus on manufacturing, applications and marketing.  Each partner 
offers unique ARM related technologies and services, which together 
satisfy a wide range of end-user application needs.  ARM also 
designs and licenses peripherals, supporting software and hardware
tools and offers design services, feasibility studies and training. 
This results in a global partnership committed to making the ARM 
architecture the volume RISC standard.  ARM's partners include: 
VLSI Technology, GEC Plessey Semiconductors, Sharp Corporation, 
Texas Instruments, Cirrus Logic, Samsung, AKM and Digital Equipment 
Corporation.  ARM was formed in 1990 by Acorn Computers, Apple 
Computer and VLSI Technology with Nippon Investment and Finance 
(a Daiwa Securities subsidiary) investing in 1992.
     Digital Semiconductor, a Digital Equipment Corporation business 
headquartered in Hudson, Massachusetts, designs, manufactures and 
markets semiconductor products including Alpha microprocessors and 
PCI-based peripheral chips.  PCI products include networking chips, 
bridge chips, and graphics/multimedia accelerators that offer 
industry leading performance and functionality for all major 
platforms, both CISC and RISC.  

     Digital Semiconductor operates design centers in Hudson, Palo Alto, 
California; Austin, Texas; and Jerusalem, Israel.  Semiconductor 
products are manufactured at facilities in Hudson and South 
Queensferry, Scotland.  Digital Semiconductor sells its products 
worldwide through its direct sales force and semiconductor 
distribution channels.
     Digital Equipment Corporation is the world's leader in open 
client/server solutions from personal computing to integrated 
worldwide information systems.  Digital's scalable Alpha platforms, 
storage, networking, software and services, together with industry-
focused solutions from business partners, help organizations compete 
and win in today's global marketplace.
                                ####

Note to Editors:  Digital and the Digital logo are trademarks of 
                  Digital Equipment Corporation.

     		  ARM, the ARM Powered logo and StrongARM are 
                  trademarks of Advanced RISC Machines Ltd.

     		  Apple, the Apple logo and Newton are trademarks of 
                  Apple Computer, Inc.

CORP/95/799

Editorial Contacts:

Patricia McGloin		       Susan Cain
Digital Semiconductor		       Franson Hagerty Assoc.
77 Reed Road			       560 Waverly Street, Suite 200
Hudson, MA 01749		       Palo Alto, CA  94301
Tel: (508) 568-5102		       Tel:  (415) 462-1605
Fax: (508) 568-6447		       Fax:  (415)  462-1606

StrongARM is a CPU designed by the Digital Semiconductor's Palo Alto Design
Center (PADC) and Austin Research & Design Center (ARDC).  It implements the
ARM architecture, not the Alpha architecture. The chip is fabricated using 
Hudson's 0.35um technology.

Kwong

    I didn't realize my "stripped down Alpha" comment in 4277.3 would raise
    such a ruckus.  I had meant to imply low power, but was on the phone
    with a customer as I was typing the message in.  Both .4 and .5
    corrected the error of my ways.
    
    Chuck

    BP faced a direct question on "Alpha licensing to COMPAQ" at the Q&A
    following the stockholders' meeting last week.  He handled the question
    deftly - so much so that I can't really remember how he took the
    focus away from Compaq servers and onto the general i86 market.  He
    turned the question around and concentrated on Digitl's FX32 software 
    emulation for his answer.
    
    /Chris.

Sorry about the rathole...but...is it?

40% faster...than a P6?

What about support for FX!32 on Digital UNIX?...wouldn't that make a
Digital UNIX workstation a 'lock'?

Wouldn't we be able to FUD WABI now?

-Stephen
[Posted by WWW Notes gateway]

Sorry about the rathole...but...is it?

40% faster...than a P6?

What about support for FX!32 on Digital UNIX?...wouldn't that make a
Digital UNIX workstation a 'lock'?

Wouldn't we be able to FUD WABI now?

-Stephen
[Posted by WWW Notes gateway]

sorry...

first time I tried to post via the web.

	Regarding .9

	If I understood the demo correctly, FX!32 is intended to translate "well-behaved"
	win32 applications. It is an enabling technology that allows us to engage in
	the following battle:

	NT/x86  vs.  NT/Alpha

        Note that this is a hardware battle and NOT a software battle! The target customers
        are users who have decided upon NT as their operating system of choice and want the
        best platform to support it. Until now we have had the raw performance to win battles
        but faced losing the war based on x86 compatibility. Once FX!32 is integrated with 
        NT a user should be able to take shrink-wrapped win32 applications from Walmart, 
        CompUSA, etc....and run them directly on an NT/Alpha platform. 

	I'll agree that it would nice to run NT/x86 applications on a UNIX/Alpha
	platform but that is a different problem altogether.

        There is a good article in the November issue of BYTE magazine on the 
	IBM PowerPC 615. In that article they discuss the 615's approach to the problem
	by using on-chip hardware rather than software. However, they mentioned that the
	best long-term approach might be binary translation. They said that Digital probably
        had the most experience with translators but that x86 translation would be tough to
	achieve. I look forward to seeing articles and reviews on FX!32 now that it has been
	announced. 

	-Dave-

                   <<< Note 4277.11 by KATRA::CATEISENBERG >>>
                             -< UNIX != WindowsNT >-


    Regarding .9

    If I understood the demo correctly, FX!32 is intended to translate
    "well-behaved" win32 applications. It is an enabling technology that allows
    us to engage in the following battle:

    NT/x86  vs.  NT/Alpha

    Note that this is a hardware battle and NOT a software battle! The target
    customers are users who have decided upon NT as their operating system of
    choice and want the best platform to support it. Until now we have had the
    raw performance to win battles but faced losing the war based on x86
    compatibility. Once FX!32 is integrated with  NT a user should be able to
    take shrink-wrapped win32 applications from Walmart,  CompUSA, etc....and
    run them directly on an NT/Alpha platform. 

    I'll agree that it would nice to run NT/x86 applications on a UNIX/Alpha
    platform but that is a different problem altogether.

    There is a good article in the November issue of BYTE magazine on the  IBM
    PowerPC 615. In that article they discuss the 615's approach to the problem
    by using on-chip hardware rather than software. However, they mentioned
    that the best long-term approach might be binary translation. They said
    that Digital probably had the most experience with translators but that x86
    translation would be tough to achieve. I look forward to seeing articles
    and reviews on FX!32 now that it has been announced. 

	-Dave-

>>   I'll agree that it would nice to run NT/x86 applications on a UNIX/Alpha
>>   platform but that is a different problem altogether.

Boy it sure would be...

The I could quit spending time on WinDD...

-Stephen

Tools like FX!32 (and DECmigrate for VAXVMS->AlphaVMS and MIPSULTRIX->AlphaUNIX,
and FreeportExpress for SunOS->AlphaUNIX) have to do two things.  One piece is
handling the differences in instruction sets.  The other piece is handling any
differences in external interfaces.  The latter job is much easier if the
two systems are similar (eg, VMS/VMS, ULTRIX/UNIX, SUNOS/UNIX, Win95/WNT).

In principle, the FX!32 technology could be used as the instruction-set half
of a product that supported Win95 applications on UNIX, but the other half
-- implementing Win95 API's on UNIX -- is a big piece of work.  Perhaps the
FX!32 technology could be plugged into a tool that already solves this, such
as WABI or SoftWindows...

    re .14:
    
    �-- implementing Win95 API's on UNIX -- is a big piece of work.
    
    Well, some (most?) of it has been done already (Wind/U) - maybe those
    two could get married?
    

If Digital could pull it off, through partnering or whatever...

It would really be a selling point for our Alpha/UNIX workstations, IMO.

I'm on one, and I really don't think it's too much to ask for at least
MS Office to be delivered at Pentium 75mhz perfomance or better on some
kind of emulation package...now, if FX!32 could deliver 40% faster than
a Pentium performance on a ALPHA/UNIX workstation.....well then, you've
got yourself a mini-coup....and one p*ssed off partner...but we could
really use another cash cow.

-Stephen

    FX!32 has won "best new technology" at COMDEX...
    
    	cool news to come in to this morning...  :^)
    
    					da ve

Given that we don't have WABI (and WABI does run very well for what it runs 
according to one of my customers that has over 2000 Sun workstations, 
by the way) and that SoftWindows 2.0 is pitfully slow, and that Win32 is the way
of the future (according to Microsoft), it seems that an FX!32 translator coupled
with Bristol's or MainSoft's product would be a killer. I believe that both are
using Microsoft sources, as opposed to WABI which is reverse-engineered.

Sounds like most of the work is already done - now can we get a marriage arranged?

    We have the WIN32 APIs on Digital UNIX from 2 Partners, Mainsoft and
    Bristol.  These were announced/demoed at DECUS last fall.
    
    Mark
    

	Hi,

	I'm just a MCS monkey who has tried to get my customer Softwindows
	V1.0 run as smooth as possible.
        I'd appreciate any short info about fortcoming new stategies 
        concerning Alpha WS cababilites of running MS software.