Intel yesterday took networking directly into the system chip set, heralding a new level of freedom for system manufacturers to roll out new products quickly and inexpensively.
The company introduced here at the Computex trade show the 820E chip set, which includes an integrated I/O Controller Hub (ICH2) for greater connectivity options, including integration of a networking chip directly in to the chip set.
A chief advantage of the integration will be to give system manufacturers greater design flexibility, according to Intel officials who spoke here. The 820E is an enhancement of the company's trouble-ridden 820 chip set and uses the same Direct Rambus DRAM Memory Controller Hub. The 820E is shipping now and priced at US$35 in 1,000-unit quantities.
Also today, Taiwanese manufacturers showed off motherboards using Intel's 815E chip set, which is not yet shipping, according to Intel officials at the conference. The 815E was scheduled to be announced at the show. It will also use the ICH2 and will offer the option of integrated graphics, Intel officials said. Instead of RDRAM, it will support the PC133 SDRAM specification, the officials said.
"We want to get rid of as many of the design [headaches] as possible for system manufacturers," said Sean Conlon, regional marketing manager for Intel Microelectronics Asia's Network Infrastructure Division. Doing so will save manufacturers the cost of much integration work and respond more quickly to changing demands for systems, he added.
The brains for connecting a PC or server to a network have migrated over the past few years from separate PCI cards to the motherboard, as chip development has shrunk the components and the growing importance of networking has made high-speed connectivity a check-off item. The chip sets announced today can be ordered by system makers with an included Intel 82562 networking chip.
