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From...
Intel delays new Merced chip
June 3, 1998
Web posted at: 11:20 a.m EDT
by James Niccolai
(IDG) -- Intel said on Monday it will delay by six months the release of its anticipated 64-bit processor code-named Merced. The chip, designed for use in powerful workstations and servers, is now slated for release in mid-2000, Intel said.
Intel informed its customers of the revised release date after a review of the chip's development progress showed that testing procedures will take longer than expected, spokesperson Howard High said.
One analyst said he grilled the company over the delay and concluded there are probably no major problems with the chip's development.
"It appears the issue is not that a huge technical problem jumped out on the road in front of them, but that they underestimated how long the project would take," said Nathan Brookwood, a principal analyst at Dataquest. "They maintain it is a problem with the original plan and not with the execution."
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The news should send a signal to corporate users to stop holding their breath for the new technology and to go ahead and deploy systems based on technologies available today, analyst firm Zona Research said in a statement.
Dozens of hardware, operating system, and software vendors have publicly pledged support for the new architecture, and the delay is likely to have a ripple effect for companies who had planned to time the release of their products with that of Merced.
Microsoft, for example, planned to roll out a 64-bit version of Windows along with Merced. Sun Microsystems, the Santa Cruz Operation, and Digital Equipment all will have to push back release dates for their 64-bit operating systems also.
The delay is bad news for Hewlett-Packard in particular; it is co-designing the chip with Intel and plans to make the IA-64 architecture the centerpiece of its enterprise strategy, Zona said.
Merced is the first processor that will be based on Intel's new 64-bit instruction set architecture known as IA-64; it will offer significant performance improvements over the company's existing, 32-bit Pentium design.
Intel will release various improved 32-bit processors in the interim, but the company denied press reports that it plans to release additional high-end 32-bit designs to substitute for Merced's delay.
Intel stressed that the design of the chip's microarchitecture is complete, and said the development of the chip is going well.
