SUBSTITUTE FOR BW0193, INTEL-2.

PALM SPRINGS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 24, 1999--

Industry Uniting Around Intel Server Architecture; Platform Initiatives Complement Strong Intel IA-32 and IA-64 Targeted

Processor Roadmap for 1999

Today the server industry is rallying around a number of platform initiatives for Intel Corporation's Intel Architecture (IA). These initiatives demonstrate the value of a unifying server architecture as enterprise solutions and the Internet undergo dramatic growth into the next century.

A unified Intel Architecture and related initiatives benefit the industry by minimizing design rework moving from one processor generation to the next, stabilizing interfaces for server designs on IA, and addressing challenging issues such as legacy system management.

John Miner, Intel vice president and general manager, Enterprise Server Group, outlined new industry goals and provided an update on initiatives begun last year, in his keynote at the Intel Developer Forum.

"We are focused on working with and empowering the industry to easily and efficiently develop solutions for IA-based servers," said Miner. "These collaborative efforts, combined with our strong processor roadmap for both IA-32 and IA-64 processors, will help achieve our goal of making Intel the unifying architecture today and into the next century."

Highlights of Miner's speech included:

-- Formation of an industry working group of 20 leading companies to produce a developer's guide for IA-64 servers.

-- Announcement by Project UDI of a Uniform Driver Interface (UDI) specification for public review. The specification is expected to simplify development of UNIX solutions for hardware devices used with Intel-based servers.

-- Membership recruitment and final specification development by the newly formed Next Generation I/O (NGIO) Industry Forum. Miner also demonstrated the NGIO architecture.

-- Initiation of an industry group to define hardware interfaces for different UNIX operating systems running on Intel-based servers.

-- Delivery of the final specification for common server power supplies via the Server System Infrastructure (SSI) Promoter's Council.

-- Formation of the Server Appliance Industry Group to focus on development of common platform building blocks for server appliances.

Industry Rallies Around Developer Interface Guide for IA-64 Servers

Intel is working with leading server hardware vendors, OS vendors, and peripheral hardware manufacturers to create a common definition of compatibility between IA-64 server hardware and system level software such as operating systems, device drivers, and middleware. With a common set of building blocks and interfaces for IA-64 server hardware and software components available, IT managers will be able to benefit sooner from the advances of IA-64 processor-based solutions.

An industry group has been formed to produce the Developer's Interface Guide for IA-64 servers. Members of the working group include Adaptec, American Megatrends, Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, NEC, 3Com, Intel, Interphase, LSI Logic, Mylex, NCG, Oracle, Phoenix, Q Logic, SCO, Siemens and Sun Microsystems. The working group expects to have an initial version of the guide available for industry review late in the third quarter of this year. Products designed around the guidelines are expected beginning early in 2000.

UNIX on Intel Architecture Servers

The Project UDI industry group announced the final UDI specification will be available for public review in early March. The specification will help peripheral manufacturers to more easily create single device driver implementations for different versions of UNIX running on IA-based servers. Project UDI is an open industry forum whose contributors include Adaptec, Bit3, Digital, HP, IBM, Intel, Interphase, SCO and Sun Microsystems.

The expected result is reduced development costs for companies providing UNIX solutions for Intel-based servers and increased momentum for the overall growth of UNIX on Intel Architecture. In order to speed adoption of the UDI specification, Intel is developing a reference implementation that will be made freely available as source code through the Linux community approximately four weeks after public review of the UDI specification concludes in mid 1999. The Intel reference implementation includes UDI environmental services, SCSI mapper and meta language, and a SCSI driver for the Adaptec 2940 controller.

Next Generation I/O (NGIO)

The NGIO Industry Forum, which includes Dell, Hitachi, Intel, NEC, Siemens and Sun Microsystems has created a nonprofit organization to establish a broad, industry-led NGIO initiative. The Forum is also establishing additional working groups to further develop and complement the NGIO specification, and will host semiannual developer conferences in 1999, followed by members-only "plug-fests" in early 2000.

Membership to the NGIO Forum is open to the industry, and is based on the steering committee's founding principle that contributions to the core specifications should be licensed on a mutual royalty-free basis. NGIO provides for a direct, high-performance and expandable interface between main memory and the controller devices for I/O services such as network communication, storage and processing subsystems.

NGIO is designed to deliver new levels of reliability, scalability, and flexibility for data flow in servers -- vital in developing a complete and robust Internet-connected environment. Additional information regarding NGIO Forum membership can be found at www.ngioforum.org.

Common UNIX Interfaces

Intel and several leading UNIX operating system and device manufacturers have initiated efforts to reduce the time and resources required to get new UNIX on IA-server solutions to market. Formed early in 1999, the group is focused on defining a common set of building blocks and hardware interfaces for UNIX solutions on Intel-based servers. A formal announcement of members and delivery schedules is expected in the first half of this year.

Server Appliance Industry Group Formed

Intel and over 20 industry participants have formed the Server Appliance Industry Group to help drive the emerging server appliance market. Membership has grown from the inception of this group, which now includes: Acer Bull SA, Computer Associates International, Creative Design Solutions, Dell, Dialogic, Digex, Encanto Networks, FORE Systems, FreeGate, Hewlett-Packard, Network Engines, NEC Computer Systems Division, Nortel Networks Novell, Oracle, SCO and VA Research. The group's first project is producing a Server Appliance Developers Guide that will define common building blocks of network server appliances used by large corporations, Internet service providers (ISPs) and telecommunications companies. A formal announcement of deliverables and schedules is expected in the first half of this year.

Server System Infrastructure

Intel is a member of the Server System Infrastructure (SSI) Promoter's Council with Compaq, Data General, Dell, Hewlett Packard, Micron Electronics and NEC. The Council announced the publication of the final specification for four power supplies and a family of DC to DC converters supporting a wide range of server system applications.

By providing specifications for common server power supplies, OEM manufacturers can focus on quicker time-to-market delivery for new technology and minimize power system development time and expense. The SSI initiative was announced last February and is supported by more than 100 server industry OEMs and IHVs, who are contributing to the specification being developed. The 1.0 specification can be found at www.ssiforum.org. Additional information on all the initiatives mentioned above can be found at developer.intel.com/design/servers/dev_guides.

Intel, the world's largest chip maker, is also a leading manufacturer of computer, networking and communications products. Additional information about Intel is available at www.intel.com/pressroom.

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