Intel Developer Forum The battle between two sets of computing giants to create the next generation of input and output is over. Craig Barrett, CEO of Intel, said that agreement had been reached between the proponents of Future IO and NGIO. The new specification will be called System IO and has backing from all players in the dispute. Compaq, HP and IBM had lined up behind Future IO while Intel and Sun had backed NGIO. But now, according to Barrett, the two camps have declared to smoke the pipe of peace and a merged technology is now likely to appear in the year 2001. At a later conference call, John Miner, VP of Intel's communication products group, and Tom Braddage, director of the IBM Netfinity division, outlined the roadmap for System IO. Braddage said that the parties will work together to produce a common specification for System IO by the end of this year. He confirmed that systems would be likely to appear in the year 2001. He said: "It is in the companies' interest to produce a unified specification. The goals are aligned and the momentum is quite heavy." ® Full IDF Summer 99 coverage