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More Than One Billion Instructions Per Second...
DIGITAL AGAIN EXTENDS PERFORMANCE LEADERSHIP
WITH NEW GENERATION OF ALPHA AXP MICROPROCESSORS
...Alpha AXP 21164 Chip 2-3 Times Faster Than Pentium,
PowerPC, MIPS...
MAYNARD, Mass. -- September 7, 1994 -- Digital Semiconductor, a Digital Equipment Corporation business, today announced the world's fastest and highest-performance microprocessor for both server and client systems, the Alpha AXP 21164. The first of a new generation of Alpha AXP microprocessors, the new chip is the first to reach or exceed one billion instructions per second (BIPS).
The Alpha AXP 21164 microprocessor extends Digital's performance lead over its competitors and gives Digital the two most powerful single-chip microprocessors in the industry, the Alpha AXP 21164 and 21064A (announced in October 1993).
"Digital became the microprocessor performance leader in 1992 with the launch of the Alpha AXP architecture," said Ed Caldwell, vice president, Digital Semiconductor. "We have maintained that lead through more than two years of technology acceleration in the industry. The Alpha AXP 21164 microprocessor demonstrates our continuing superiority in microprocessor design."
Sets New Performance Records, Beats Competition
Two versions of the new microprocessor were announced: the Alpha AXP 21164-300MHz and the Alpha AXP 21164-266MHz. Performance of the 300MHz chip is estimated at 330 SPECint92, 500 SPECfp92, and 600 TPS (transactions per second), all industry records for a single-chip microprocessor. Alpha AXP 21164-266MHz chip performance is estimated at 290 SPECint92 and 440 SPECfp92.
The Alpha AXP 21164-300 microprocessor is capable of three times the integer performance and six times the floating point performance of Intel's 100MHz Pentium chip. It delivers more than twice the integer performance and over three times the floating point performance of the MIPS 200MHz R4400 chip, and twice the integer performance and three times the floating point performance of the PowerPC 604 100MHz microprocessor.
According to Dean McCarron of Mercury Research, a California industry analyst firm, new, high performance CPUs allow manufacturers to build systems with the simplicity and low cost of a uniprocessor, while offering performance previously available only with multiprocessor systems.
Commenting on the Mercury statement, Art Swift, vice president, Semiconductor Marketing and Sales, said, "When we compared available TPS (transaction per second) numbers, we found that a prototype uniprocessor Alpha AXP 21164 system delivers nearly twice the performance of the Compaq Proliant 4000 server with four Pentium-66 processors, and 1.5 times the performance of Sun's eight-processor SPARCserver 1000 system."
The Alpha AXP 21164 microprocessor contains the industry's first two-level, on-chip cache memory, which enhances chip performance and eliminates the need for an external cache for the most widely used desktop applications, saving significant cost in many systems. A board-level cache is optional.
Target Client/Server Applications
The Alpha AXP 21164-300 MHz and 21164-266 MHz microprocessors are ideally suited for server applications involving multiple databases, groupware for departments and workgroups, and high-volume transaction processing. They also offer the industry's fastest execution of demanding client applications, such as mechanical and electronic computer-aided design (CAD), computer- assisted software engineering (CASE), high-performance graphics and imaging, multimedia, voice recognition, and scientific and financial analysis.
"Approximately 6,000 applications running on Windows NT, OSF/1, and OpenVMS operating systems are now shipping for Alpha AXP systems," said Swift. "For the external merchant semiconductor market, we are focusing on the emerging Windows NT segment, in which more than 1,700 applications are shipping or committed for Alpha AXP systems -- far more than for any other RISC vendor.
"We look for Alpha AXP products to complement our OEMs' Pentium-based system offerings for the Windows NT market," continued Swift. "Alpha AXP microprocessors take up where Pentium performance leaves off for Windows NT client and server applications. According to International Data Corporation (IDC), the Windows NT market represents the industry's most rapidly growing server market segment, with a compound average growth rate (CAGR) of 60 percent through 1997."*
New PCI Chipset
Digital's new DECchip 21171 PCI Core Logic chipset is designed for use with the Alpha AXP 21164 microprocessor in PCI bus-based systems. The chipset features a 256-bit-wide ECC memory bus for high-speed DMA (Direct Memory Access) I/O data transfers.
"Digital has championed PCI bus technology because of its high I/O capacity and ability to enhance system performance," Swift pointed out. "With the DECchip 21171 chipset, OEMs can offer PCI-based Alpha AXP 21164 systems with high-end client and server-class performance, and take advantage of volume-priced, off-the-shelf peripherals."
Customer Support
Digital also announced an evaluation board for the Alpha AXP 21164, the EB164, for use by equipment manufacturers to simplify board and system design and shorten time-to-market for products based on the new microprocessor. As part of its worldwide sales organization, Digital Semiconductor has established a network of field application engineers to assist OEMs with technical designs, and technical assistance is also available from distributors of Digital Semiconductor products.
Prices, Availability
In quantities of 5,000, the Alpha AXP 21164-266MHz is priced at $1,865 and the Alpha AXP 21164-300MHz microprocessor is $2,669. Samples of both versions will be available in October. Volume shipments will begin in January 1995 for the Alpha AXP 21164-266MHz and in March 1995 for the 21164-300MHz chip. Swift said that Digital Semiconductor expects to follow an aggressive curve in its chip pricing strategy, noting that the 5,000-unit price of the Alpha AXP 21064-200MHz chip is now $544, down 58 percent from its volume price just 12 months ago.
The five-chip 21171 PCI Core Logic chipset is priced at $295 in quantities of 5,000. It will be available for sampling in October and in volume in January 1995. The EB164 Evaluation Board is scheduled for February 1995 delivery at a price of $7,500.
Digital Semiconductor, a Digital Equipment Corporation business headquartered in Hudson, Massachusetts, designs, manufactures and markets industry-leading semiconductor products including Alpha AXP microprocessors and PCI-based peripheral chips. Digital Semiconductor also operates fabrication facilities in Hudson and South Queensferry, Scotland, and design centers in Hudson; Palo Alto, California; Austin, Texas; and Jerusalem, Israel. A new, $450-million semiconductor fabrication facility with sub-half-micron capability is nearing completion in Hudson.
Digital Equipment Corporation is the world's leader in open client/server solutions from personal computing to integrated worldwide information systems. Digital's scalable Alpha AXP platforms, storage, networking, software and services, together with industry-focused solutions from business partners, help organizations compete and win in today's global marketplace.