Intel's Way Out?

Maybe Intel really wants drop Rambus but is still looking for the easiest (meaning least expensive) way out. As an insider, who frequently attended the JEDEC meetings, told me at the Summit, Intel has a reputation for letting others fight its battles. It happened at one of the JEDEC (Joint Electronic Device Engineering Circle) meetings for example, that a member company pushed for a new interface specification. After intensive grilling by the other members as to what the need for this new specification is anyway, it came out that Intel wanted it. All the while Intel sat back and said nothing. Maybe Intel is banking on the DDR proponents to push Rambus out of the market. After everything is said and done, Intel can quietly switch to DDR...

Ignoring Rambus

During the official part of the DDR-SDRAM Summit nobody talked about Rambus or Intel. When one question from the audience touched the subject, it was dismissed and left unanswered. As an insider told me later, the consensus in the industry is not to say anything about Rambus but rather ignore the company. This way neither Rambus nor Intel are forced to react, and the notion is that Rambus will just disappear. The plan might work if the rest of the industry continues to pull in the same direction.

Ultimately, it is all about what the user wants and what he or she is willing to pay for it. Rambus memory is expensive. Intel could hide the costs of RDRAM in a PC system by giving the OEMs a discount on Intel processors if they use Rambus memory. This way the OEMs can offer systems with RDRAM at the same price as systems with DDR memory. But once the end user wants to upgrade the main memory, he or she must pay the full price of RDRAM. But we'll have to wait and see what happens when the first DDR products hit the market. My advice for users, who are looking into buying a new system, is to stay tuned and wait for the DDR benchmarks before making a decision.