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Intel Offers Glimpse at McKinley

A chip that could challenge Sun's 64-bit high-end dominance won't be out until late 2001.

By Dan Neel, Infoworld   

This newest chip, still deep in the design phase, will be the next-generation processor for the Intel IA64 operating environment.

Indeed, according to one Intel official, it will not be possible to take full advantage of IA64 until McKinley begins shipping. Expected to launch in late 2001, the McKinley processor relies on a synergy between software and hardware that exists on the Itanium processor, but is not fully optimized, according to Gadi Singer, vice president and general manager for the IA64 microprocessor division.

A process jointly developed by Intel and Hewlett-Packard, which Singer calls a "deferred transaction mechanism," gives signs to the processor that allow it to 'speculate' on which calculations happen only once, and which ones repeat themselves. This process helps maximize the throughput of the data and prevents bottlenecks.

"Imagine if you could give the processor a bird's-eye view," Singer says. "And with this view you can see everything that's coming towards it so it can prepare to sort the incoming data. This gives much more performance than the processor operating alone."

Missing Details

Singer was unable to discuss what the solo processor speed of McKinley might be, but he confirmed the processor will be based on a 0.18 micron aluminum architecture at its launch, the same as Itanium. Intel will then move to 0.13 micron copper architecture by early 2002, in order to take advantage of copper's greater conductivity and lower heat displacement. A copper architecture could also result in a lower cost per unit once it is adopted for mass production.

Sun Microsystems already holds a firm grip on a considerable portion of the 64-bit high-end server market with its Solaris operating environment. Industry observers have interpreted IA64 as an attempt by Intel to make inroads into this ever-expanding market. The move by Intel has caused speculation as to whether or not the Itanium processors, the first for the IA64 environment, are just training wheels in preparation for McKinley.

"The Itanium processors are nothing more than proof of concept for IA64," says Mike Feibus, an analyst for Mercury Research.

"It is McKinley that will put Intel in position to really go after Sun and Solaris," Feibus says. "But they couldn't roll out a new OS without a processor, and that's what Itanium is for."

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