Samsung to Manufacture Intergraph's Clipper RISC Chip
 
Microbytes Daily News Service
Copyright (c) 1989, McGraw-Hill, Inc.
Although it might not be the first company you think of when it
comes to RISC chips, Intergraph's Clipper processor represents
the second largest installed base of RISC-based computers.
(Intergraph claims to have sold some 30,000 Clipper-based
systems, while Sun has sold about 35,000 SPARC-based systems).
Intergraph has now taken a step to reinforce its market presence
by signing a deal allowing Samsung Electronics Corp. to
manufacture and market Clipper processors, the company announced
last week. The deal also includes provisions for cooperative
development of future versions of Clipper processors.
 
The deal with Samsung gives the Clipper a "true second source"
manufacturer, said Howard Sachs, head of the Advanced Processor
Division at Intergraph and one of the designers of the chip
(which originated at Fairchild Electronics). Samsung will also
add significant engineering and manufacturing expertise in the
future co-development efforts of the two companies, according to
Sachs.
 
Sachs emphasized that the deal with Samsung should have no effect
on Hewlett-Packard's recently announced license agreement with
Samsung involving HP's RISC-based Precision Architecture. The HP
deal involves Samsung's System Division, while the Intergraph
agreement was made with Samsung's Semiconductor Division.
Basically, it means that Samsung will work with HP to deliver
complete computer systems based on the Precision Architecture,
while the primary emphasis in the Intergraph deal is having a
second-source manufacturer, said Sachs.
 
Asked whether Intergraph will have difficulties competing in
the crowded RISC market, Sachs said that he does not foresee
a "shakeout" in the RISC market. "There will always be four or
five players in the RISC market," said Sachs. He named seven:
IBM, Sun, HP, Motorola, MIPS, Advanced Micro Devices, and
Intergraph, adding that AMD is the most likely to fall out of
the RISC race. Increased standardization on Unix and the
development of greater software compatibility would allow
customers to select more than one RISC architecture, he said.
 
Sachs said his team is working with other companies on the
Architecture Neutral Distribution Format (ANDF), supported
by the Open Software Foundation, of which Intergraph is a member.
Sachs said ANDF will be a key component in the development of
"shrink-wrapped" software for the Unix market.
 
Contact: Intergraph Advanced Processor Division, 2400 Geng Rd,
Palo Alto, CA 94303; (415) 852-2365.
 
                              --- Nick Baran
 
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